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John  Wesley. 

From  the  painting  by  J.  W.  L.  Forster. 


John  Wesley 

the   Methodist 


A  Plain   Account  of 
His    Life   and  Work 


By  a  Methodist   Preacher 


With  One  Hundred  Portraits,  Views,  and  Facsimiles 


New  York:   Eaton  &  Mains 
Cincinnati :   Jennings  &  Pye 


Copyright  by 

EATON  &  MAINS 

1903 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 
A  Race  ok  Preachers. 

The  \Yesley  Ancestry. — The   First  John  Westley. — Samuel  Wesley, 

Poet  and  Preacher. — Susanna  Annesley. — Piety  and  Culture. .  Page     ii 

CHAPTER  H. 
The  Epwokth  Household. 

Epworth  in  Lincolnshire. — The  Wonderful  Mother. — Pecuniary  Diffi- 
culties.— "A  Brand  Plucked  from  the  Burning." 25 

CHAPTER  in. 

The  Gownbov  of  the  Charterhouse. 

A  Friendly  Duke. — The  Charterhouse  School. — John's  School  Days. — 
The  Epworth  Ghost. — The  Brothers  at  Westminster 39 

CHAPTER  IV. 
The  Crisis  at  Oxford. 

A  Freshman  of  Christ  Church. — No  Religious  Friends. — Letters  from 
Home. — Choosing  a  Profession. — The  First  Convert. — Fellow  of 
Lincoln.  — Curate  at  Wroote 51 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  Holy  Club. 

Charles  Wesley  Begins  It.  —  "  Methodists." — John  Wesley  Its  Father. — 
"Men  of  One  Book." — Works  of  Mercy  and  Help. — The  Oxford 
Methodists.— Whitefield.— Death  of  the  Epworth  Rector.— Re- 
served for  a  Better  Appointment 68 


4  Contents. 

CHAPTER  VI. 
To  America  and  Back. 

The  Missionary  Spirit. — Oglethorpe's  Philanthropic  Colony.— John 
Wesley,  Missioner  to  Georgia. — The  High  Churchman  at  Savan- 
nah.— Moravian  Influences. — The  First  Methodist  Hymnal. — An 
Unhappy  Ending Page    83 

CHAPTER  Vn. 
The  New  Birth. 

Whitefield's  Revival  Fire. — Peter  Bohler's  Influence. — Charles  Wes- 
ley's Happy  Day. — John  Wesley's  Heart  "  Strangely  Warmed."— 
A  Spiritual  Revolution 95 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Revival  Pkeachixc. 

"Jesus,  the  Sinner's  Friend,  Proclaim."  —  "By  Grace  Are  Ye  Saved." — 
A  Happy  New  Year. — Whitefield  Calls  Wesley  Out  of  Doors. — 
Shouts  in  the  Camp. — The  Old  Room  at  Bristol. — The  Foundry 
for  Gospel  Artillery. — Wesley's  Chapel  in  City  Road. — Wesley's 
House 105 

CHAPTER  IX. 
Society  and  Class. 

No  Solitary  Religion. — The  First  Society. — A  Layman's  Notion. — An 
Unspeakably  Useful  Institution. — The  General  Rules. — Quar- 
terly Tickets. — Mother  and  Son. — "Jack  May  Excommunicate  the 
Church." — Braving  the  Bishops. — "  I  Look  upon  All  the  World 
as  My  Parish." — Preaching  from  His  Father's  Gravestone. — Death 
of  Stisanna  Wesley 121 

CHAPTER  X. 
Lay  Helpers. 

Wesley's  "Irregularities." — "Soul-saving  Laymen." — Cennick,  Hum- 
phreys, Maxfield. — "He  is  as  Surely  Called  of  God  to  Preach  as 
You  Are." — John  Nelson,  of  Birstall. — The  Extraordinary  Call  of 
Women. — Mary  Bosanquet  and  Others 142 


Contents.  5 

CHAPTER  XI. 
Two   Sorts  of  Methodists. 

Whitefield's  Calvinism. — Arminians. — "  The  Queen  of  the  Metho- 
dists."— Trevecca  College. — Lady  Huntingdon's  Connection. — 
Time  Heals  the  Wounds. — Whitefield's  Candle  Burns  to  the 
Socket Page  153 

CHAPTER  XH. 

Wesley  Faces  Mobs. 

The  Wednesbury  Riots. — Before  the  Magistrate. — A  Noble  Champion. 
— "Always  Look  a  Mob  in  the  Face."— Stoned  at  the  Market 
Cross. — Causes  of  the  Disturbance. — Quieter  Times 169 

CHAPTER  XHL 

In  Conference  with  the  Preachers. 

An  Ecclesiastical  Statesman. — The  First  Conference. — Notable  Con- 
ferences.— One-man  Power. — "Christian  Democracy." — Early 
Discipline. — Circuits 182 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
Doctrinal  Wars. 

Antinomianism. — The     Minute    of    1770. — Fletcher's     Checks. — The 

Hills,  Toplady,  and  Berridge.— Wordy  Wars 199 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Ireland,  Scotland,  and  Wales. 

Island  Visits.—"  The  Dairyman's  Daughter." — Irish  and  Irish-Amer- 
ican Methodism. — Shamefully  Treated. — The  Palatines.— Wesley 
in  Scotland. — A  Dash  into  Wales 212 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
The  Work  Beyond  the  Sea. 

Methodism  in  1769.— An  American  Offshoot. — Shall  Wesley  Go? — 
Political  Pamphlets. — Wesley  to  Lord  North. — A  Calm  Address. 
— A  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  for  America 223 


6  Contents, 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

Traveler,  Preacher,  and  Philanthropist. 

Wesley's  Travels. — His  Preaching  Power. — The  Last  University 
Sermon. — A  Pioneer  of  Benevolence. — Temperance. — Sunday 
Schools. — The  Press. — Hymns  and  Tunes Page  239 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
Setting  His  House  in  Order. 

"Thou  Art  the  Man!  "—Methodist  Clergy. — The  Swiss  Recruit. — 
Fletcher's  Proposals. — The  Deed  of  Declaration. — The  Ordina- 
tions.— The  Rubicon  Crossed 267 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
The  Passing  of  John  Wesley. 

An  Active  Octogenarian. — Welcomed  in  Ireland. — Triumphal  Prog- 
resses.—  "I  Do  not  Lack  for  Labor." — Last  Open-air  Sermon. — 
The  Last  Text— A  Last  Letter.— "The  Best  of  All  is,  God  is 
with  Us !" 285 

CHAPTER  XX. 

The  True  John  Wesley. 

John  Wesley's  Appearance. — His  Habits. — His  Temperament. — His 
Tact. — His  Love  of  Children. — His  Unhappy  Matrimonial  Expe- 
rience.— His  Wit  and  Humor. — His  Freedom  from  Selfish  Ambi- 
tion.— Asbury's  Tribute 303 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


John  Wesley.     After  the  Portrait  by  J.  W.  L.  Forster. 

Photograxnire.   Frontispiece 

Rev.  John  Westley,  M.A Page  13 

Rev.  Samuel  Wesley,  M.A.,  Rector  of  Epworth 15 

Susanna  Annesley,  before  her  marriage  to  Rev.  Samuel  Wesley 17 

Birthplace  of  Susanna  Wesley 20 

A  Part  of  Lincolnshire 23 

Church  of  St.  Andrew,  Epworth 26 

Glimpses  of  Epworth 28 

The  Gateway  of  Lincoln  Castle 31 

The  Brand  from  the  Burning 33 

The  Present  Epworth  Rectory  from  the  Garden 36 

Sheifield,  Duke  of  Buckingham 40 

The  Charterhouse 42 

The  Great  Dining  Hall,  Charterhouse 44 

A  Gownboy 45 

Staircase  to  the  "  Haunted  "  Chamber 47 

Entrance  to  the  Charterhouse 49 

A  Letter  from  John  Wesley  at  Oxford  to  the  Treasurer  of  the  Char- 
terhouse    52 

The  Front  of  Christ  Church  College.  Oxford 54 

Transcript  by  Adam  Clarke   of  a   MS.  Record  Written  by  Samuel 

Wesley 61 

Wesley's  Rooms,  Lincoln  College,  and  the  "  Wesley  Vine  " 63 

Sketches  of  Lincoln  College 65 

Rev.  John  Wesley  and  His  Friends  at  Oxford 71 

Bocardo,  the  Prison,  Oxford 74 

A  Lesson  for  the  Holy  Club 77 

Grave  of  Samuel  Wesley,  Sr.,  in  Epworth  Churchyard 81 

The  Newspaper  Notice  of  the  Wesleys'  Departure  for  America 85 

Memorials  of  the  Wesleys  in  Georgia 88 

A  Fragment  of  Romance 92 

Peter  Bohler 98 

Streets  Associated  with  the  Conversion  of  the  Wesleys 100 

Nettleton  Court,  off  Aldersgate  Street 102 


8    •  List  of  Illustrations, 

View  of  Herrnhut Page  io6 

Plan  of  Holborn 107 

Hannam  Mount,  Kingsvvood 108 

Scenes  about  Old  Kingswood no 

The  "  Old  Room  in  the  Horsefair  " 112 

The  Foundry  Chapel,  Moorfields,  London , 114 

Vicinity  of  City  Road  and  Foundry  in  Eighteenth  Century 115 

Wesley's  Chapel,  City  Road,  London 117 

Interior  of  City  Road  Chapel 118 

Wesley's  House,  City  Road,  London 119 

A  Quarterly  Ticket 123 

A  Quarterly  Ticket,  1764 125 

A  Quarterly  Ticket,  1765 126 

A  Quarterly  Ticket,  1789 127 

The  Rev.  Samuel  Wesley,  Jr 129 

Wesley  Preaching  on  His  Father's  Tomb  in  Epworth  Churchyard 133 

Methodism  in  Wesley's  County,  A.  D.  1903 138 

Monument  to  Susanna  Wesley,  City  Road,  London 140 

Grave  of  Susanna  Wesley,  Bunhill  Fields,  London 140 

John  Nelson 146 

John  Nelson's  Birthplace 147 

Mrs.  John  Fletcher  (Mary  Bosanquet) 149 

Cross  Hall 151 

The  Rev.  George  Whitefield,  A.M 155 

Selina,  Countess  of  Huntingdon 159 

The  Last  Resting  Place  of  Lady  Huntingdon 162 

Trevecca  Farmhouse,  Trevecca  College 164 

The  Whitefield  Cenotaph 167 

John  Wesley,  the  Founder  of  Kingswood 172 

Wesley  Preaching  at  Bolton  Cross 177 

The  Press  Gang. 180 

The  Rules  of  an  Assistant 184 

"  The  Hole  in  the  Wall  " 186 

The  Old  Chapel,  Derby,  1765 188 

Barnard  Castle  Chapel,  1 765 190 

William  Shent's  House 192 

The  Modern  Kingswood  School,  Bath 193 

John  Wesley's  Study,  Bristol 194 

Facsimile  of  an  Agreement  Made  by  the  Preachers  in  1752 197 

J.  Fletcher,  Madeley 202 

Contemporary  Portraits  of  Wesley 203 

Rev.  Augustus  Montague   Toplady 207 

Rev.  Rowland  Hill 209 

Poor  Old  Ireland 214 

Views  in  Aberdeen 217 

House  in  Carnarvon 220 


List  of  Illustrations.  9 

The  Old  Boggart  House,  Leeds Page  225 

Wesley  Chapel,  "  Old  John  Street  Church,"  New  York 227 

The  First  Methodist  Chapels  in  Maryland 229 

Title-page  of  Wesley's  "  Calm  Address " 232 

The  Ordained  Missionaries  to  America 235 

John  Wesley  Preaching  at  Gwennap  Pit 241 

Pulpit  of  St.  Paul's,  Bedford 245 

Glimpses  of  St.  Mary's,  Oxford 247 

The  Broad  Walk,  Christ  Church,  Oxford 249 

West  Street  Chapel,  London. 251 

The  Orphan  House,  Newcastle 253 

Some  of  Wesley's  Preaching  Places 255 

Cover  and  Contents  of  the  First  Number  of  the  Arminian  Magazine. .  257 

Wesley's  Editorial  Salutatory 258 

John  Wesley's  Shorthand  Writing 260 

Title-page  of  Wesley's  First  Tune  Book 262 

Wesley's  Favorite  Tune,  by  Lampe 263 

Rev.  Charles  Wesley,  A.  M 265 

John  Wesley  at  the  Age  of  Sixty-three 269 

Shoreham  Church 272 

The  Birthplace  of  John  Fletcher,  Nyon,  Switzerland 275 

Madeley  Church  and  Vicarage 277 

Part  of  a  Letter  from  John  Wesley  to  John  Fletcher 279 

Certificate  of  Robert  Gamble  as  Elder 281 

Contemporary  Portraits  of  John  Wesley 283 

The  High  Church,  Hull 286 

Wesley's  Study 287 

The  Last  Entry  in  Wesley's  Cash  Account 289 

The   House  at   Leatherhead  in   which   Wesley   Preached   His    Last 

Sermon 290 

One  of  Wesley's  Last  Letters,  February  5,  1791 291 

Furniture  which  Belonged  to  John  Wesley 293 

Wesley's  Last  Hymn 294 

John  Wesley's  Deathbed  (from  the  Painting  by  Parker) 296 

Key  to  the  Painting  "  John  Wesley's  Deathbed  " 297 

Mask  of  John  Wesley 299 

Tomb  of  the  Rev.  John  Wesley 300 

Wesley's  Tablet  in  City  Road 301 

John  Wesley  (from  the  Painting  by  Jackson) 305 

Wesley's  Field  Bible,  with  case 308 

The  Title-page  of  Wesley's  Field  Bible 309 

Mrs.  Pendarves 3" 

Mrs.  John  Wesley 314 

Memorial  Tablet  to  John  and  Charles  Wesley  in  Westminster  Abbey.  316 

The  Wesleyan  Centenary  Statue,  City  Road,  London 318 

Seal  of  John  Wesley 319 


You  are  the  heirs  of  great  traditions.     You  stand  in  a  noble  succession. 

But— 

' '  They  who  on  glorious  ancestry  enlarge 

Produce  their  debt  instead  of  their  discharge." 

You  have  done  so  much  that  you  are  under  awful  responsibilities  to  the 
nations  in  which  your  societies  are  already  planted,  and  to  the  nations  to 
which  you  have  still  to  make  known  the  unsearchable  riches  of  God's  grace. 
Keep  faith  with  your  fathers ;  keep  faith  with  Christ ;  keep  faith  with  your 
children  and  your  children's  children;  transmit  to  coming  generations 
the  Gospel  which  has  already  won  such  splendid  triumphs. — From  the 
address  by  the  Rev.  Robert  IV.  Dale,  of  Birmingham,  in  City  Road 
Chapel,  at  the  centenary  memorial  of  the  death  of  John  Wesley. 


JOHN  WESLEY  THE   METHODIST. 


CHAPTER  I. 
A  Race  of  Preachers* 


The  Wesley  Ancestry.— The  First  John  Westley.— Samuel  Wesley,  Poet 
and  Preacher. — Susanna  Annesley. — Piety  and  Culture. 

"  ^^O  far  as  I  can  learn,  such  a  thing  has  scarce  been  for 

1^^  these  thousand  years  before,  as  a  son,  father,  grand- 
father, ataviis,  tritai'iis,  preaching-  the  Gospel,  nay,  the 
genuine  Gospel,  in  a  line." 

Thus  wrote  John  Wesley  to  his  brother  Charles,  thirty  years 
after  the  date  of  organized  Methodism,  concerning  their  an- 
cestry. He  could  have  said  with  equal  truth  that  his  female 
ancestors  were  as  distinguished  as  their  husbands — his  mother, 
grandmother,  and  great-grandmother  being  renowned  for  their 
gifts  of  genius,  for  their  intense  interest  in  ecclesiastical  life, 
and  for  their  suffering  in  obedience  to  conscience. 

The  founder  of  Methodism  was  not  fully  acquainted  with  the 
particulars  of  his  remarkable  ancestry.  But  in  those  rare 
moments  when  even  the  busiest  of  men  naturally  inquire  about 
their  forefathers  he  was  profoundly  impressed  that  Providence 
had  favored  his  own  household  in  a  singular  way.  The  ances- 
tral line  ot  the  Wesleys  revealed  the  fact  that  the  principles  of 
intellectual,  social,  and  religious  nobility  were  developing  and 
maturing  into  a  new  form  of  pentecostal  evangelism. 

On  the  southwestern  shore  line  of  England  is  the  county  of 


12  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

Dorset,  a  part  of  which  was  called  "West-Leas,"  lea  signifying 
a  field  or  farm.  In  Somerset,  adjoining  Dorset,  there  was  a 
place  called  Welswey,  and  before  surnames  were  common  we 
have  Arthur  of  Welswey,  or  Arthur  Wellsesley  (Wellesley),  and 
John  West-leigh,  and  Henry  West-ley.  There  were  land- 
owners in  Somerset  named  Westley  in  the  days  of  Alfred  the 
Great,  in  the  ninth  century.  Sir  William  de  Wellesley  was  a 
member  of  Parliament  in  1339.  His  second  son.  Sir  Richard, 
became  the  head  of  the  Wesleys  in  Ireland,  from  whom 
descended  Arthur  Wellesley,  Duke  of  Wellington,  the  con- 
queror of  Napoleon  at  Waterloo. 

We  step  out  on  firmer  ground  and  get  nearer  home  in  stating 
that  a  grandson  of  Sir  William,  Sir  Herbert,  now  called  West- 
ley,  was  the  father  of  Bartholomew  Westley,  and  great-grand- 
father of  our  own  John  Wesley. 

Bartholomew  Westley  was  about  seven  years  old  when 
James  I  came  to  the  throne.  He  entered  Oxford  as  the  first 
on  the  list  of  coming  students  bearing  the  name  of  Wesley. 
After  completing  the  classical  course  he  graduated  in  "  physic," 
which  was  his  means  of  livelihood  for  some  years  to  come.  In 
1620,  at  the  age  of  twenty-five,  he  married  the  daughter  of  Sir 
Henry  Colley,  of  Castle  Carberry,  Kildare,  Ireland,  by  whom 
he  had  one  son  named  John. 

Having  taken  *' holy  orders, "  Bartholomew  Westley  became 
a  Puritan  clergyman  in  the  Established  Church.  In  1640  he 
was  appointed  rector  of  Charmouth,  on  the  English  Channel. 
When  the  Puritan  rectors  were  ejected  by  Charles  Stuart  after 
the  Restoration  of  1660  he  lost  his  parish,  but  continued  to 
preach  as  a  Nonconformist  pastor  of  a  portion  of  his  old 
parishioners.  The  Royalists  stigmatized  him  as  a  "fanatic" 
and  a  "  puny  parson,"  because  of  his  small  stature,  but  he  was 
much  beloved  by  his  flock,  and  much  lamented  at  his  death,  in 
1680,  being  then  about  eighty-five  years  old. 


A  Rack  of  Preachers. 


13 


John  Westley,  son  of  Bartholomew  and  Ann,  was  born  in 
1636,  and  was  consecrated  to  the  ministry  in  his  infancy.  He 
was  educated  at  New  Inn  Hall,  Oxford  University,  and  was  an 


Rev.  John  Westley,  M.A. 

This  likeness  of  the  grandfather  of  Rev.  John  Wesley  is  the  earliest 
known  portrait  of  any  member  of  the  Wesley  family. 

exceptional  student.  After  graduation  he  began  preaching  as 
minister  of  a  congregation  at  Whitchurch,  and  as  a  Noncon- 
formist strenuously  defended  his  right  to  do  so  without  episco- 
pal ordination.     He  suffered  sorely  in  the  persecuting  times  of 


14  John  Weslf.y  the  Methodist. 

the  Restoration,  being  driven  from  his  pulpit  and  thrown  into 
jail.  He  had  married  a  daughter  of  Rev.  John  White,  of  Dor- 
chester, one  of  the  most  celebrated  of  the  Puritan  divines,  and  to 
them  v^as  born,  at  Whitchurch,  in  1662,  a  son,  Samuel.  Westley 
died  in  1678  at  Preston,  being  then  forty-two  years  of  age,  and 
having  suffered  many  things  for  his  principles  of  religion  and 
ecclesiastical  order.  His  widow  survived  him  for  forty  years, 
and  was  lovingly  cared  for  by  her  sons — Matthew,  a  surgeon  of 
London,  and  Samuel,  the  rector  of  Epworth. 

Samuel  Wesley  was  born  in  1662,  in  Dorsetshire,  four 
months  after  the  English  St,  Bartholomew's  Day,  upon  which 
his  father  and  his  grandfather  were  ejected  from  their  livings 
for  Nonconformity.  His  father  dying  when  he  was  a  lad,  his 
education  was  cared  for  by  his  mother,  and  in  1678  some 
friends  of  his  family  sent  him  to  a  Nonconformist  academy  in 
London.  Here  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  eccentric  book- 
seller and  literary  man,  John  Dtmton,  afterward  the  editor  of 
the  Athenian  Gazette,  a  precursor  of  the  Tatler  and  Spectator. 
Here  also  he  obtained  entry,  as  the  son  and  grandson  of  distin- 
guished confessors,  into  the  best  Nonconformist  circles,  of 
which  one  of  the  leading  families  was  that  of  a  Rev.  Dr.  Annes- 
ley.  One  of  his  schoolfellows  was  Daniel  Defoe.  He  heard 
Stephen  Charnock  and  John  Bunyan  preach,  made  notes  of 
many  sermons,  and  wrote  some  verses  and  unwise  lampoons. 

He  was  about  twenty  years  of  age  when  he  was  asked  to 
answer  some  strictures  made  upon  the  Dissenters,  and  while 
studying  the  subject  he  decided  to  leave  Nonconformity  and 
go  over  to  the  Established  Church.  With  that  quick  impulse 
w^hich  distinguished  all  his  subsequent  life,  he  rose  early  one 
morning  and  started  afoot  for  Oxford  University,  entering 
Exeter  College  as  a  servitor,  with  only  two  pounds  and  five 
shillings  in  his  pocket. 

The  young  collegian  met  his  expenses   partly  by  teaching 


JOHN  WESLEY 
From  the  painting  by  Frank  O.  Salisbur> 

By  kind  permission  of  the  Wesley  Museum 


A  Race  of  Preachers. 


15 


and  partly  by  his  pen.  He  collected  his  poetical  pieces,  which 
were  published  under  the  title  of  Maggots;  or  Poems  on  sev- 
eral  subjects  never   before   handled,   by  a    Scholar,    London. 


Rev.  Samuel  Wesley,  M.A.,  Rector  of  Epworth. 

Detail  from  the  copperplate  frontispiece  of  his  Latin 
Commentary  on  Job,  published  in  London,  1736. 

The  claim  to  novelty  for  "several  subjects"  is  sustained  by 
the  titles  of  the  pieces:  The  Grunting  of  a  Hog,  A  Cow's  Tail, 
A  Hat  Broke  at  Cudgels,  The  Tobacco  Pipe,  The  Tame  Snake  in 
a  Box  of  Bran.     This  curious  book  is  extremely  scarce.     It  was 


i6  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

published  by  that  odd  John  Dunton,  with  whom,  as  we  know, 
Wesley  was  acquainted  before  he  went  to  Oxford.  Dunton 
had  married  Elizabeth  Annesley,  the  sister  of  Susanna,  who 
six  years  afterward  became  Wesley's  wife. 

At  Oxford  Samuel  Wesley's  character  ripened.  There  was 
awakened  in  him  a  true  pastoral  feeling  of  compassion  and 
responsibility  by  visiting  the  prisoners  in  the  castle ;  as  his  sons 
did  fifty  years  later,  when  he  wrote  to  them,  "  Go  on  in  God's 
name  in  the  path  your  Saviour  has  directed  and  that  track 
wherein  your  father  has  gone  before  you;  for  when  I  was  an 
undergraduate  at  Oxford  I  visited  them  in  the  castle  there, 
and  reflect  on  it  with  great  satisfaction  to  this  day. "  As  quaint 
old  Fuller  says,  "  Thus  was  the  prison  his  first  parish;  his  own 
charity  his  patron  presenting  him  to  it;  and  his  work  was  all 
his  wages." 

He  took  his  degree  of  B.  A.  in  1688,  signing  his  name  Wes- 
ley instead  of  Westley.  He  received  his  M.  A.  degree  later 
from  Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge.  Returning  to  Lon- 
don, he  was  ordained  deacon  by  the  time-serving  but  able 
Bishop  of  Rochester,  Dr.  Thomas  Sprat,  whom  Dunton  eulo- 
gized thus: 

Nature  rejoiced  beneath  his  charming  power ; 
His  lucky  hand  made  everything  a  flower. 
On  earth  the  king  of  wits  (they  are  but  few), 
And,  though  a  bishop,  yet  a  preacher  too ! 

Twelve  days  after  the  Prince  and  Princess  of  Orange  were 
proclaimed  as  King  William  III  and  Mary,  Samuel  Wesley 
was  ordained  a  priest  of  the  Church  of  England  by  Bishop 
Compton,  of  London,  in  St.  Andrew's  Church,  Holborn. 

Samuel  Wesley  became  "passing  rich  "  on  ^28  a  year  as  a 
London  curate,  then  obtained  a  naval  chaplaincy,  commenced 
his  metrical  Life  of  Christ,  and  in  1689  married  Dr.  Annesley's 
accomplished  daughter  Susanna  on  another  London  curacy  of 


Susanna  Annesley,  before  Her  Marriage  to  Rev.  Samuel  Wesley, 
From  a  photograph  of  the  original  painting  in  the  Wesleyan  Book  Room,  London. 


A  Race  of  Preachers.  19 

;^3o  a  year.  The  young  couple  commenced  their  married  life 
in  Holborn,  in  lodgings  somewhere  near  the  quaint  old  houses 
still  standing  opposite  Gray's  Inn  Road. 

Susanna  Wesley,  the  mother  of  Methodism,  was  the  daugh- 
ter of  a  Puritan  minister,  who  has  been  called  "The  St.  Pavil 
(jf  the  Nonconformists."  Her  father,  Samuel  Annesley,  nephew 
of  the  first  Earl  of  Anglesea,  was  born  at  Haseley,  in  the 
Shakespeare  country,  in  1620,  and  educated  at  Queen's  College, 
Oxford.  He  enjoyed  great  prominence  as  a  preacher  until  the 
Restoration  drove  him  from  his  pulpit  in  vSt.  Giles,  the  largest 
congregation  in  London.  His  means  saved  him  from  distress, 
and  made  him  a  blessing  to  many  of  his  dissenting  brethren. 
He  gathered  a  flourishing  congregation  in  London  and  minis- 
tered to  it  for  many  years. 

Annesley  was  tall  and  dignified,  and  of  robust  constitution. 
He  had  an  aquiline  nose,  a  short  upper  lip,  wavy  brown  hair, 
and  a  strong  and  penetrating  eye.  Severe  persecutions  did 
not  disturb  the  geniality  and  cheerfulness  of  his  Christian  life. 
When  John  Wesley  had  set  the  Churches  of  England  aflame 
with  the  doctrine  of  Assurance  he  asked  his  mother  whether 
her  father  had  ever  preached  it.  She  replied  that  he  person- 
ally enjoyed  it  and  confessed  it  for  many  years,  but  did  not  recol- 
lect hearing  him  preach  upon  it  in  particular.  She  therefore 
presumed  he  regarded  it  as  a  high  privilege  of  a  few.  How 
well  he  lived  and  died  let  these  words  witness:  "Blessed  be 
God!  I  have  been  faithful  in  the  work  of  the  ministry  above 
fifty-five  years."  - PivM^   <^ 

Shortly  before  his  departure  from  this  world,  December  2>^y  \fs    .  /n         A 
1696,    Dr.   Annesley   said:     "Come,   my   dearest    Jesus!    the  Y 

nearer  the  more  precious,  the  more  welcome!"  "I  cannot 
express  the  thousandth  part  of  the  praise  that  is  due  to  thee. 
...  I  will  die  praising  thee.  ...  I  shall  be  satisfied  when  I 
awake  with  th}Mikeness!     Satisfied!     Satisfied!" 


20  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

Dr.  Williams,  who  founded  the  library  now  in  Gordon 
Square,  preached  his  funeral  sermon,  and  exclaims:  "O  how 
many  places  had  sat  in  darkness,  how  many  ministers  had  been 
starved,  if  Dr.  Annesley  had  died  thirty-four  years  since !  The 
Gospel  he  ever  forced  into  ignorant  places,  and  was  the  chief 
instrument  in  the  education  as  well  as  the  subsistence  of  sev- 
eral ministers." 

The  second  wife  of  this  leading  London  divine  was  a  daugh- 


Birthplace  of  Susanna  Wesley. 
Spital  Yard,  London. 

ter  of  John  White,  a  member  of  the  Long  Parliament,  and  a 
man  of  the  highest  repute.  She  was  a  woman  of  rare  accom- 
plishments and  remarkable  piety.  The  youngest  of  her  chil- 
dren, Susanna,  who  became  the  mother  of  John  and  Charles 
Wesley,  was  born  on  January  20,  1669,  in  Spital  Yard,  between 
Bishopsgate  vStreet  and  vSpital  Square,  London.  Her  home 
was  probably  in  the  last  house,  which  blocks  up  the  lower  end 
of  the  yard.  Here  Susanna  Annesley  spent  her  girlhood, 
studied  Church  controversies,  and  asserted  her  personal  deci- 


A  Race  of  Preachers.  21 

sion,  and  hence  she  went  forth  to  her  wcddinj^  with  vSanniel 
Wesley. 

"How  many  children  has  Dr.  Annesley  ?"  inquired  a  friend 
of  Thomas  Manton,  who  had  just  baptized  one  of  the  family. 
"I  believe  it  is  two  dozen,  or  a  quarter  of  a  hundred,"  was  the 
startling  reply.  Susanna,  the  youngest,  was  perhaps  tlie  most 
gifted  of  the  many  beautiful  and  well-educated  daughters. 
Her  sister  Judith  was  a  very  handsome  and  sturdy-minded 
woman,  whose  portrait  was  painted  by  Sir  Peter  Lely;  Eliza- 
beth, who  married  John  Dunton,  was  lovely  in  person  and 
character,  and  Susanna  shared  largely  in  the  family  gift  of 
beauty.  She  was  slim  and  graceful,  and  retained  her  good 
looks  and  symmetry  of  figure  to  old  age.  The  best  authenti- 
cated portrait  of  her  is  one  that  was  taken  in  her  old  age  and 
engraved  under  the  direction  of  her  son  John.  It  shows  "deli- 
cate aquiline  features,  eyes  still  vivid  and  expressive  under 
well-marked  brows;  a  physiognomy  at  once  benignant  and 
expressive."  Her  letters  reveal  "a  perfect  mistress  of  English 
undefiled,"  some  knowledge  of  French  authors,  and  a  logical 
mind  well  read  in  divinity.  The  secret  of  her  deep  spirituality 
is  revealed  in  one  of  her  letters  to  her  son:  "I  will  tell  you 
what  rule  I  observed  in  the  same  case,  when  I  was  young,  and 
too  much  addicted  to  childish  diversions,  which  was  this — 
never  to  spend  more  time  in  any  matter  of  mere  recreation  in 
one  day  than  I  spent  in  private  religious  duties." 

Bishop   McTyeire's  eloquent  tribute   to  her  virtues,  graces, 
and  gifts  does  no  more  than  justice  to  this  remarkable  woman:    fiijfi 

"When  I  was  in  Milan  I  visited  the  church  where  Ambrose  /ii^liAAJLiA-t^ 
preached  and  where  he  was  buried;  but  I  thought  more  of  his 
patroness,  the  pious  Helena,  than  of  him.  I  thought  of  Augus- 
tine, and  of  that  mother  whose  prayers  persevered  for  his  sal- 
vation; and  in  the  oldest  town  on  the  Rhine  I  could  not  help 
being  interested  in  the  legend  of  Ursula  and   her  eleven  thou- 


22  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

sand  virgins.  But  greater  than  Helena,  or  Monica,  or  Ursula, 
there  lived  a  woman  in  England,  known  to  all  Methodists,  and 
of  whom  in  the  presence  of  those  I  have  mentioned  it  might  be 
said,  '  Many  daughters  have  done  virtuously,  but  thou  hast 
excelled  them  all. '  I  mean  the  wife  of  the  rector  of  Epworth, 
and  the  conscientious  mother  of  his  nineteen  children;  she 
that  transmitted  to  her  illustrious  son  her  genius  for  learn- 
ing, for  order,  for  government,  and  I  might  almost  say  for 
godliness;  who  shaped  him  by  her  councils,  sustained  him  by 
her  prayers,  and,  in  her  old  age,  like  the  spirit  of  love  and 
purity,  presided  over  his  modest  household;  and,  when  she 
was  dying,  said  to  her  children,  '  Children,  as  soon  as  the 
spirit  leaves  the  body,  gather  round  my  bedside  and  sing  a 
hymn  of  praise.'  " 

Susanna  Annesley,  at  the  age  of  thirteen,  was  interested  in 
the  ecclesiastical  and  doctrinal  controversies  of  the  day.  With 
remarkable  independence  she  made  up  her  mind  to  renounce 
Dissent  and  enter  the  Established  Church,  one  year  after  Samuel 
Wesley  had  come  to  the  same  decision.  It  is  possible  that  the 
two  ecclesiastical  conversions  were  not  unconnected.  Young 
Wesley  was  seven  or  eight  years  older  than  his  future  bride, 
and  the  friendship  had  already  begun  which  was  to  ripen  into 
love.  In  one  of  her  later  private  meditations  she  mentions  it 
among  her  greatest  mercies  that  she  was  "  married  to  a  religious 
orthodox  man;  by  him  first  drawn  off  from  the  Socinian  heresy." 
The  same  feeling  is  expressed  in  the  words  of  the  epitaph  from 
her  pen  inscribed  on  Samuel  Wesley's  tomb  at  Epworth:  "As 
he  lived,  so  he  died,  in  the  true  Catholic  faith  of  the  Holy 
Trinity  in  Unity;  and  that  Jesus  Christ  is  God  Incarnate,  and 
the  only  Saviour  of  mankind. "  It  was  natural  that  the  thought- 
ful, fervent  girl  should  be  strongly  influenced  by  one  by  whom 
she  had  been  settled  in  a  belief  of  such  vital  importance.  ' '  If  the 
Puritans,"  says  Dr.  Rigg,  "could  not  transmit  to  her  lover  and 


A  Race  of  Preachers. 


23 


herself  their  ecclesiastical  principles,  at  least  they  transmitted 
a  bold  independence  of  judgment  and  of  conduct." 

The  girl  of  thirteen  expressed  her  opinions  against  the 
Church  of  her  distinguished  father,  however,  with  such  tact 
and  sweetness  of  spirit  as  to  win  his  consent  to  her  confirmation 
at  St.  Paul's.      She  was  at  once  so  decided  and  gentle,  and  he 


GERMAN 
OCEAN 


muno/i/>£ 


'^^"'^rm^smmm 


A  Part  of  Lincolnshire. 

Showing  the  location  of  South  Ormsby,  Epworth,  and  Scrooby 
(the  village  of  the  Plymouth  pilgrims). 

SO  tolerant,   that  the  love  between  the  father  and  daughter 
never  lost  its  strength  and  charm. 

"The  Puritan  movement  in  which  she  had  been  reared," 
says  Buoy,  "went  with  her  into  the  Church  of  England.  She 
entered  it  es.sentially  a  Puritan,  and  that  stern,  heroic  faith, 
softened  by  the  grace  of  God,  held  her  all  her  life.  There  was 
a  providence  leading  this  woman  back  to  Anglicanism  as  plain 
as  that  which  led  the  mother  of  Moses  back  to  the  court  of  Egypt, 


24  J"HN  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

and  she,  like  Joehebed,  had  her  ministry — to  train  a  child  who 
should  set  the  people  free."  "The  Wesley's  mother,"  says 
Isaac  Taylor,  "was  the  mother  of  Methodism  in  a  religious 
and  moral  sense;  for  her  courage,  her  submissiveness  to 
aiithority,  the  high  tone  of  her  mind,  its  independence  and  its 
self-control,  the  warmth  of  her  devotional  feelings,  and  the 
practical  direction  given  to  them,  came  up,  and  were  visibly 
repeated  in  the  character  and  conduct  of  her  sons. " 

We  left  the  young  curate  and  his  wife  in  their  lodgings  in 
London,  where  they  "boarded  without  going  into  debt."  Here 
their  son  Samuel  was  born,  who  became  the  poet  and  satirist 
of  Westminster  School  and  master  of  Tiverton  Grammar  School, 
In  the  autumn  of  1690  the  Marquis  of  Normanby  presented 
Wesley  to  the  living  of  South  Ormsby,  in  Lincolnshire,  worth 
^50  a  year,  Wesley  himself  describes  the  parsonage  as  "a 
mean  cot,  composed  of  reeds  and  clay." 

His  family  increased  "one  additional  child  per  annum." 
Again  his  pen  came  to  the  rescue,  and  Wesley  published  his 
Life  of  Christ,  dedicating  it  to  Queen  Mary.  At  South 
Ormsby  Wesley  also  published  his  treatise  on  the  Hebrew 
points.  Here  also  he  wrote  much  for  "The  Athenian  Gazette; 
or  Casuistical  Mercury,  resolving  all  the  nice  and  curious 
questions  proposed  by  the  ingenious."  One  third  of  the 
Gazette  at  this  time  was  from  Wesley's  pen. 

About  the  beginning  of    1697  Samuel  Wesley  was  presented 

to  the  living  of  Epworth,  in  Lincolnshire,  "in  accordance  with 

some  wish  or  promise  of  the  late  queen;"  here  he  continued  for 

thirty-eight  years,  and  here  John  Wesley  was  born  on  June  17, 

JStkAjO  a\  1 703?  O-  ^'■>  ttie  fifteenth  of  the  rector's  nineteen  children.    John 

f\   n      \lj,g        Benjamin  appears  to  have  been  his  full  name  when  christened, 

(Ly*y\s^^^^^l  but  he  never  used  the  middle  name  or  initial. 


%utL 


The  Epworth  Household.  25 


CHAPTER  II. 

The  Epworth  Household* 

Epworth  in  Lincolnshire. —The  Wonderful  Mother. — Pecuniary  Diffi- 
culties.— "  A  Brand  Plucked  from  the  Burning." 

*Y*  INCOLNSHIRE,  the  county  of  "fen,  marsh,  and  wood," 
I  (  has,  perhaps,  been  the  most  assertive  of  all  the  seething 
counties  of  the  eastern  coast  of  the  British  Isles.  In 
almost  every  great  crisis  of  English  history  we  find  leaders 
from  Lincolnshire.  For  at  least  seven  hundred  years  it  has 
been  represented  in  the  high  places  of  English  life  by  some 
illustrious  son. 

The  old  market  town  of  Epworth  stands  on  a  piece  of  land 
once  inclosed  by  five  rivers,  and  called  the  Isle  of  Axholme. 
Its  poptilation  remains  abotit  the  same  as  in  the  days  of  the 
Wesleys,  when  the  parishioners  numbered  two  thousand.  They 
live,  for  the  most  part,  in  the  one  street  that  stretches  out  for 
two  miles  From  the  time  of  Charles  I  down  to  the  first  quar- 
ter of  the  eighteenth  century  the  "stilt  walkers"  had  fiercely 
resisted  every  effort  to  drain  the  fens,  and  when  the  work  was 
accomplished  by  new  settlers  the  older  Fenmen  burned  the 
crops,  killed  the  cattle,  and  flooded  the  lands  of  the  intruders. 
The  turbulent  spirit  of  the  Fenmen  lingered  still  among  the 
villagers  of  Epworth,  who  were  also  profligate  and  vicious  in 
their  habits — as  vSamuel  Wesley  discovered  to  his  cost  dimng 
his  first  twelve  years  among  them. 

The  exterior  of  Epworth  Church  remains  much  the  same  as 
in  Wesley's  day.  Porches,  walls,  buttresses,  and  towers  have 
not  been  materially  altered  in  the  two  centuries.     Within,  the 


26 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


pews,  organ,  and  decorations  are  new,  the  rood  screen  has 
been  removed,  the  aisles  have  been  reroofed,  and  six  bells 
have  been  hung  in  the  tower. 

The  first  home  of  the  Wesleys  at  Epworth  was  a  typical 
country  parsonage  of  the  seventeenth  century,  a  homely  frame 
structure,  plastered  within  and  roofed  with  straw.  Parker's 
well-known  painting  of  John  Wesley's  deliverance  from  the  fire 


Church  of  St.  Andrew,  Epworth. 

Where  Rev.  Samuel  Wesley  was  rector,  1696-1735,  and  where  John  and  Charles  Wesley- 
were  christened. 


provides  a  partially  imaginary  picture  of  the  house.  An  old 
document  thus  describes  it:  "It  consists  of  five  bayes,  but  all 
of  mud  and  plaster,  the  whole  building  being  contrived  into 
three  stories,  and  disposed  in  seven  chief  rooms,  kitchen,  hall, 
parlour,  butterie,  and  three  large  upper  rooms,  and  some  others 
of  common  use;  a  little  garden  empailed  between  the  stone  wall 
and  the  south,  a  barn,  a  dove  coate,  and  a  hemp  kiln." 

Let  us  take  a  look  into  the  interior  of  the  Epworth  rectory, 
for  in  this  household  we  have,  as  Stevens  well  says,  the    "real 


The  Epwokth   Household.  27 

origin"  of  Methodism.  ]\Irs.  Wesley's  education  in  the  splen-  ^j4k.t.crtrt-<>^^ 
did  religious  environment  of  the  twenty  years'  life  in  her  /cla-<2-</t^«-<5'-^  -i-lxl/ 
father's  house  in  London,  and  her  diligent  self-improvement  '^^^^i--'*--'*'^  • 
during  her  married  life,  gave  superior  qualifications  for  the 
training  of  the  school  in  the  home.  The  method  of  living  and 
the  course  of  study  have  been  given  in  a  letter  by  the  match- 
less teacher  herself.  The  children  were  always  put  into  a 
regular  method  of  living,  in  such  things  as  they  were  capable, 
from  their  birth;  as  in  dressing,  undressing,  and  changing 
their  linen.  When  turned  a  year  old  they  were  taught  to  fear 
the  rod,  and  to  cry  softly.  "  I  insist,"  she  .says,  "in  conquer- 
ing the  will  of  children  betimes,  because  this  is  the  only  strong 
and  rational  foundation  of  a  religious  education,  without  which 
both  precept  and  example  will  be  ineffectual,  but  when  this  is 
thoroughly  done  then  is  a  child  capable  of  being  governed  by 
the  reason  and  piety  of  its  parents,  till  its  own  understanding 
comes  to  maturity,  and  the  principles  of  religion  have  taken 
root  in  the  mind." 

As  soon  as  the  child  learned  to  talk,  its  first  act  on  rising  and 
its  last  act  before  retiring  were  to  say  the  Lord's  prayer,  to 
which,  as  it  grew  bigger,  were  added  short  prayers  for  parents, 
some  collects,  a  short  catechism,  and  some  portion  of  Scripture, 
as  memory  could  bear.  That  genius  of  successful  management 
which  utilizes  every  help  and  helper  was  shown  when,  at  the 
regularly  designated  hour,  the  oldest  took  the  youngest  that 
could  speak,  and  the  second  the  next,  to  whom  were  read  the 
psalms  for  the  day  and  a  chapter  in  the  New  Testament.  In 
the  morning  they  were  directed  to  read  the  psalms  and  a  chap- 
ter in  the  Old  Testament.  They  were  taught  to  be  still  at 
family  prayers,  and  to  ask  a  blessing,  which  they  did  by  signs 
before  they  could  speak. 

The  exquisite  manners  of   John  Wesley  came  largely  from 
his  careful  training  in  childhood.      The  children  were  trained  to 


28 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


"civil  behavior;"  saluting-  one  another  by  the  proper  name  with 
the  addition  of  "brother"  or  "sister,"  yet  nearly  every  child  had 


Glimpses  of  Epworth. 


The  long  walk  to  the  church. 
The  market  cross  (now  shattered). 


The  baptismal  font  and  ewer. 
Interior  of  St.  Andrew's  Church. 


a  gentle  nickname.  Each  must  "speak  handsomely  for  what 
was  wanted,"  even  to  the  humblest  servant,  saying,  "Pray, 
give  me  such  a   thing."     Telling  the  truth  brought  reward- 


The  Epwortm   Household.  29 

rude,  ill-bred  talk  was  unheard;  and  the  children  were  forbid- 
den freedom  with  the  servants  in  conversation  or  association, 
lest  something  coarse  or  evil  might  be  projected  into  their  lives. 
But  there  was  recreation  in  abundance.  They  thus  grew  up  in 
that  humble  home  a  healthy,  happy,  witty  band  of  children. 

There  was  on  the  calendar  of  this  home  "The  Alphabet 
Party."  On  the  fifth  birthday  of  each  child,  the  house  having 
been  set  in  order  the  previous  day  for  the  celebration,  the  new 
pupil  took  the  first  lesson.  To  begin  the  child's  education  was 
better  than  a  banquet,  and  the  first  effort  must,  if  possible,  be 
a  decided  success.  In  the  school  hours  of  the  learner's  first 
day  the  alphabet  was  acquired.  The  second  day  spelling  and 
reading  began  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  with  the  Book  of  Gen- 
esis. Much  stress  was  laid  on  good  reading  and  writing.  Then 
came  the  multiplication  table,  elementary  mathematics,  gram- 
mar, history,  and  geography.  The  drill  which  John  acquired 
in  grammar  flowered  out  into  his  later  authorship  of  short 
grammars  for  the  study  of  English,  French,  Latin,  Greek,  and 
Hebrew.  Reading  aloud  became  a  specialty  with  the  older 
children,  from  such  authors  as  Milton  and  Shakespeare.  John 
Wesley  declared  that  his  sister  Emilia  was  the  best  reader  of 
poetry  that  he  had  ever  heard.  The  wise  mother  drilled  the 
mental  faculties,  the   "memory  drill  "  being  another  specialty. 

' '  Why  do  you  go  over  the  same  thing  with  that  child  the 
twentieth  time  ?"  said  the  rector  impatiently  to  his  wife. 

"Because,"  said  she,  "nineteen  times  were  not  sufficient. 
If  I  had  stopped  after  telling  him  nineteen  timas,  all  my  labor 
would  have  been  lost." 

There  was  even  a  successful  adaptation  of  university  study 
and  method.  Mrs.  Wesley  taught  first  by  talks  or  lectures, 
then  by  text-books,  and  required  essays  or  papers  from  the 
elder  scholars.  The  classics  were  exalted,  and  the  daughters 
took  the  same  lessons  as  their  brothers.      Mehetabel,  the  first 


3° 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


^  OUu^^^-^'^^*-*^^^-^'^ 


/[AAA^' 


one  trained  by  the  systematic  plan  finally  adopted,  could  read 
in  the  Greek  Testament  when  only  eight  years  old.  The  rector 
rendered  assistance  in  the  classics.  In  the  school  hours  atten- 
tion was  given  to  the  culture  of  the  soul,  and  there  even  was  a 
catechism  drill  in  the  primary  department,  and  the  teaching  of 
Christian  doctrines  in  the  higher  grades.  Then  there  were 
Mrs.  Wesley's  own  compositions,  so  highly  commended  by 
Adam  Clarke,  but  lost  when  the  rectory  was  burned.  There 
were  elaborate  essays  on  religious  and  educational  themes 
which  she  had  prepared  as  text-books  for  her  home  school. 

Has  there  ever  been  a  home  school  equal  to  this  in  Epworth 
rectory  ?  The  stroke  of  the  family  clock  regulates  all  things. 
But  morning  and  evening  the  glad  sound  of  youthful  voices 
rings  out  in  singing.  Around  the  evening  candle  sit  the  happy 
family,  with  sewing  and  witty  talk,  with  many  games,  with 
even  the  sensation  of  a  haunted  house ;  where  the  ghost  is  often 
heard,  but  never  seen,  and,  better  still,  never  feared.  Buoy 
well  says:  "  Epworth  was  an  ideal  home;  the  family  were  the 
embodiment  of  the  name  of  their  church,  St.  Andrew's;  for 
they  were  said  to  have  been  the  most  loving  family  in  Lincoln- 
shire." 

It  was  not  all  sunshine,  however,  in  the  Epworth  home. 
The  rector  grew  vexed  because  his  wife  would  not  respond 
"amen  "  to  his  prayer  for  the  king.  "  Sukey,  if  we  serve  two 
kings,  we  must  have  two  beds,"  and,  as  impulsively  as  when  he 
left  London  for  Oxford,  Samuel  Wesley  hurried  away  to  the 
London  Convocation,  to  return  only  at  the  death  of  the  king 
as  if  nothing  unpleasant  had  ever  occurred.  There  were  many 
conflicts  between  the  rash  rector  and  his  ungodly  parishioners. 
They  hated  him,  and  he  knew  not  how  to  win  their  love. 
Debts  crowded  in  upon  him.  In  1705,  when  John  was  two 
years  old,  his  father  was  arrested  in  the  churchyard  for  a  debt 
of  ^30  and  hurried  off  to  jail.      His  good  wife   sent  him  her 


Tuv.  Epworth   Household. 


3' 


rings  to  sell,  but  he  returned  them,  believing  the  Lord  would 
provide  otherwise.  We  see  him  at  work  among  his  "fellow- 
jailbirds"  in  Lincoln  Castle  reading  pra3^ers  and  preaching, 
even  securing  books  to  distribute  among  the  prisoners.  He 
writes:  "I  am  now  at  rest.  I  am  come  to  the  haven  where 
I've  long  expected  to  be. "  And  again :  "  A  jail  is  a  paradise  in 
comparison  of  the  life   I  led   before   I   came   hither.     No  man 


The  Gateway  of  Lincoln  Castle. 
Samuel  Wesley  was  imprisoned  here  for  debt. 

has  worked   truer  for  bread   than   I   have   done,  and  few  have 
lived  harder,  or  their  families  either." 

But  the  storm  beat  more  fiercely  upon  the  rectory,  for  food 
was  hard  to  find,  the  crop  of  the  previous  year  having  been  a 
failure.  The  angry  neighbors  now  burned  the  flax,  stabbed 
the  three  cows  that  had  given  milk  to  the  family,  and  wished 
"the  little  devils" — the  children  in  the  rectory— would  be 
turned  out  to  starve.  The  delicate,  brave-hearted  wife  toiled 
on,  and  kept  together  the  half-fed  and  half -clothed  children. 


32  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

"Tell  me,  Mrs.  Wesley,"  said  the  Archbishop  of  York, 
"whether  you  have  ever  really  wanted  bread." 

"I  will  freely  own  to  your  grace,"  she  replied,  "that, 
strictly  speaking,  I  never  did  want  bread.  But  then  I  had  so 
much  care  to  get  it  before  it  was  eat  and  to  pay  for  it  after- 
ward as  have  often  made  it  unpleasant  to  me ;  and  I  think  to 
have  bread  on  such  terms  is  the  next  degree  of  wretchedness 
to  having  none  at  all." 

Friends  came   to  the  relief   of  the   rector,  and  through  the 

influence  of  the   Duke  of   Buckingham  he  was  presented  with 

y^i25.     After  three  months'  imprisonment  he  returned  to  his 

parish  and  his  books. 

Q  '        J    D-  Then  came  the  enemy's  torch.      The  rectory  went  down  in 

^V''^^^^^  %      ashes,  and  only  the  good  providence  of  God  saved  the  lives  of 

liljL^XoTxj  Jq^j^  ^^^  l^ig  mother.      It  was  on  Wednesday  night,  the  9th  of 

February,    1709.      Mrs.  Wesley  was  ill  in  her  room,   with  her 

two  eldest  daughters  as  companions,      Bettie,   the  maid,   and 

five  younger  children  were  in   the   nursery,  while    Hettie'was 

alone  in  the   small  bedroom  next  to  the  granary,  where  the 

newly  threshed  wheat  and  corn  were   stored.      The  rector  left 

his  study  at  half-past  ten,  locked  the  room  that  contained  his 

precious  manuscripts  and  the  records  of  the  family  and  parish, 

and  retired  to  rest  in  a  room  near  to  his  wife. 

It  was  a  wild  night.  A  howling  northeast  storm  obscured 
the  half  moon.  The  fire  crept  up  the  straw  roof  and  dropped 
upon  the  bed  where  Hetty  slept.  Scorched  and  alarmed,  she 
ran  to  her  father's  room,  while  voices  on  the  street  cried, 
"Fire!  fire!"  The  father  warned  his  wife  and  daughters, 
helped  them  down  stairs,  and  wakened  those  in  the  nursery. 
Bettie  escaped  with  Charles  in  her  arms,  while  three  children 
followed.  The  brave  father  helped  them  into  the  yard  and 
over  the  garden  wall,  and  back  to  the  house  he  rushed,  trying 
in  vain  to  find  his  wife.      He  tried  to  reach  the  study  and  failed. 


-    a 


The  Epworth  Household.  35 

A  dismal  cry  came  out  from  the  flames,  ' '  Help  me ! "  "  Jacky  " 
had  awakened  to  find  the  ceiling-  of  his  room  on  fire.  The  dis- 
tracted father  tried  to  force  himself  up  the  stairs,  but  streams 
of  flame  beat  him  back.  He  and  the  children  committed  the 
boy's  soul  to  God.  Within,  Mrs.  Wesley,  lost  in  the  excite- 
ment, sought  the  opened  front  doors,  but  was  forced  back  by 
the  blinding  sheet  of  fire  and  smoke.  At  a  third  effort  she 
was  literally  blown  down  by  the  flames.  Calmly  she  sought 
divine  help.  Wrapped  in  a  cloak  about  her  chest,  she  waded 
knee-deep  through  the  flames  to  the  door.  Her  limbs  were 
scorched,  and  her  face  was  black  with  smoke,  so  that  when 
found  by  her  frantic  husband  he  did  not  know  her. 

John,  not  yet  six  years  old,  climbed  on  a  chest  to  the  window,  Oo /  /  f -» jr^tJ^_*x^^ 
and  cried  to  be  taken   out.      One  man  was  helped  up  over  the  piji,.(iMjU'    cr? 
shoulders  of  another,  and  the  child  leaped  into  his  arms.     At  \S^><-^  [Jb~eAJuu^ 
the   same   moment  the  roof  fell  in.     The  boy  was  put  into  his  " 
mother's  arms.     The  rector,  in  his  search  for  his  wife,  found 
her  holding  the  child,  who  by  this  time  he  had  thought  was 
burned  to  ashes.      He  could  not  believe  his  eyes  imtil  several 
times  he  had  kissed  the  boy.      Mrs.  Wesley  said  to  him,  "Are 
your  books  safe?"     "Let  them  go, "  he   replied,    "now  that 
you   and  all  the  children  are  preserved."     He  called  on  those 
near  him  to   praise   God,    saying,    "Come,    neighbors,    let  us 
kneel  down;  let  us  give  thanks  to  God.      He  has  given  me  all 
my  eight  children.      Let  the  house  go;  I  am  rich  enough." 

To  John  Wesley  for  more  than  fourscore  years  this  event 
was  the  initial  of  his  vivid  reminiscences.  There  was  no  place 
found  in  his  thought  from  that  time  onward  for  a  doubt  of  a 
Supreme  Being  whose  mercy  interposes  in  moments  of  danger. 
The  mother's  escape  was  as  miraculous  as  that  of  her  celebrated 
son.  In  later  years  he  caused  a  vignette  to  be  engraved  of  a 
burning  house,  beneath  his  portrait,  and  these  words  under- 
scored:   "Ls  not  this  a  brand  plucked  from  the  burning?  " 


36 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


The  rectory  was  soon  rebuilt  in  a  more  substantial  manner 
and  on  a  more  commodious  plan.  While  the  rector  is  attend- 
ing- the  Convocation  in  London  the  good  mother  holds  service 
with  her  children  on  Sabbath  afternoons  in  the  kitchen,  reading 
good  books  and  sermons.  Neighbors  ask  the  privilege  of 
coming  to  hear,  and  there  are  soon  as  many  as  thirty  attending 


~-=sf='*'*.5^^ 


The  Present  Epworth  Rectory  from  the  Garden. 


regularly.  The  rector,  though  displeased  with  the  news,  is 
delighted  with  the  plan  on  his  retiirn.  The  next  year  he  has  a 
conceited  curate,  who  writes  him  words  of  bitter  complaint 
against  the  sermon-reading  wife.  She  tells  her  husband  of  the 
good  work,  and  that  as  many  as  two  hundred  come  to  hear. 
The  curate  writes  him  strong  words  of  a  "conventicle" — a 
pestiferous  gathering  of  Dissenters — and  the  rector  in  reply 


The  Epworth   Household.  37 

urges  his  wife  to  discontinue   the   meetings.     The   defense  of 
the  mother  of  Methodism  is  in  these  noble  words: 

It  is  plain,  in  fact,  tliat  this  one  thing  has  brought  more  people  to 
church  than  ever  anything  did  in  so  short  a  time.  We  used  not  to  have 
above  twenty  or  twenty-five  at  evening  service,  whereas  we  have  now 
between  two  and  three  hundred,  which  are  more  than  ever  came  before  to 
hear  Inman  in  the  morning. 

Besides  the  constant  attendance  on  the  public  worship  of  God,  our 
meeting  has  wonderfully  conciliated  the  minds  of  this  people  toward  us, 
so  that  now  we  live  in  the  greatest  amity  imaginable ;  and,  what  is  still 
better,  they  are  very  much  reformed  in  their  behavior  on  the  Lord's  day; 
and  those  who  used  to  be  playing  in  the  streets  now  come  to  hear  a  good 
sermon  read,  which  is  surely  more  according  to  the  will  of  Almighty 
God.  .  .  . 

I  need  not  tell  you  the  consequences  if  you  determine  to  put  an  end  to 
our  meeting.  ...  If  you  do,  after  all,  think  fit  to  dissolve  this  assembly, 
do  not  tell  me  that  you  desire  me  to  do  it,  for  that  will  not  satisfy  my 
conscience;  but  send  me  your  positive  command,  in  such  full  and  express 
terms  as  may  absolve  me  from  guilt  and  punishment  for  neglecting  this 
opportunity  of  doing  good  when  you  and  I  shall  appear  before  the  great 
and  awful  tribunal  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

The  marvelous  service  continued  to  shed  its  light  abroad,  for 
who  could  resist  the  words  and  work  of  that  matchless  heroine 
of  the  spacious  Epworth  kitchen  ? 

The  fire  sadly  interfered  with  the  school  in  the  home.  The 
children  were  received  into  friendly  families  until  the  rectory 
could  be  rebuilt,  and  when  they  returned  their  mother  had  a 
difficult  task  to  restore  order  and  good  manners.  She  was 
deeply  impressed  by  John's  escape,  and  two  years  afterward 
we  find  her  meditating  in  the  eventide,  and  writing:  "I  do 
intend  to  be  more  particularly  careful  of  the  soul  of  this  child 
that  thou  hast  so  mercifully  provided  for  than  I  ever  have 
been,  that  I  may  do  my  endeavor  to  instill  into  his  mind  the 
principles  of  true  religion  and  virtue.  Lord,  give  me  grace  to 
do  it  sincerely  and  prudently,  and  bless  my  attempts  with  good 
success." 

Much  as  the  Epworth  children  owed  to  their  mother,  they 


38 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


owed  not  a  little  also  to  their  father,  "a  learned  man,  a  com- 
prehensive thinker,  a  racy  writer  and  speaker,  a  brave  worker, 
a  manly  soul,  hasty,  impetuous,  hot,  but  loving,  liberal,  and 
true. "  He  gave  a  good  example  to  his  own  children  by  his 
self-sacrificing  care  for  his  widowed  Nonconformist  mother. 
He  never  failed,  amid  all  his  distress,  to  make  up  an  annual 
^lo  for  her.  His  letters  to  his  sons  at  school  and  college 
show  that  he  was  their  friend  and  teacher.  When  he  was  not 
at  Convocation  he  taught  them  the  rudiments  of  classics.  He 
imparted  to  his  sons  his  own  love  of  books,  for  he  was  a  biblio- 
maniac of  pronounced  type.  He  encouraged  his  children  in 
a  wide  range  of  reading.  He  criticised  the  "  sorry  Sternhold 
Psalms,"  and  in  the  same  letter  expressed  his  love  for  music  as 
"a  great  help  to  our  devotion." 

In  two  of  his  many  enterprises  in  the  press  and  the  pulpit 
the  vigorous  rector  notably  anticipated  the  principles  of  his 
Methodist  sons;  he  was  the  apologist  of  the  "religious  societies" 
of  his  day,  and  he  was  the  advocate  of  "a  broad  and  compre- 
hensive scheme  "  of  foreign  missions.  Indeed,  he  was  to  the 
year  of  his  death  disposed,  could  the  way  be  made  clear,  to  go 
out  himself  as  a  missionary  to  heathen  lands. 


The  Gownboy  of  the  Charterhouse.  39 


CHAPTER  III. 
The  Gownboy  of  the  Charterhouse. 

A  Friendly  Duke. — The  Charterhouse  School. — John's  School  Days. — 
The  Epworth  Ghost. — The  Brothers  at  Westminster. 

QRS.  WESLEY  gives  a  characteristic  glimpse  of  her  boy 
John  in  a  letter  to  her  husband  in  London  in  17 12: 
"Jack  has  bore  his  disease  bravely,  like  a  man,  and 
indeed  like  a  Christian,  without  any  complaint,  though  he 
seemed  angry  at  the  small  pox  when  they  were  sore,  as  we 
guessed  by  his  looking  sourly  at  them,  for  he  never  said  any- 
thing."  When  John  was  a  child  his  father  once  said  to  him: 
"Child,  you  think  to  carry  everything  by  dint  of  argument; 
but  you  will  find  how  very  little  is  ever  done  in  the  world  by 
close  reason."  "Very  little  indeed,"  was  John's  comment  in 
after  years. 

Mrs.  Wesley  trained  the  children  to  refuse  food  between 
meals,  and  little  John's  characteristic  and  polite  reply  to  all 
kindly  offers  was,  "I  thank  you;  I  will  think  of  it."  "One 
pictures  John  Wesley  at  Epworth, "  wrote  the  present  rector, 
Dr.  Overton,  "as  a  grave,  sedate  child,  always  wanting  to 
know  the  reason  of  everything,  one  of  a  group  of  remarkable 
children,  of  whom  his  sister  Martha  was  most  like  him  in 
appearance  and  character;  each  of  them  with  a  strong  individ- 
uality and  a  very  high  spirit,  but  all  well  kept  in  hand  by  their 
admirable  mother,  all  precise  and  rather  formal,  after  the  man- 
ner of  their  day,  in  their  language  and  habits." 

As  soon  as  the  sons  of  the  Wesley s  were  old  enough  to  leave 
home  arrangements  were  made  for  carrying  on  their  education 


40 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


/ 


.^<l:. 


in  the  best  scliools  that  the  'king-dom  afforded.      vSamiiel  went 
to   Westminster   Scliool    in   1704,   then  to   Oxford   University, 
„    -  returning  to  the  old  school 

/^.C  as     a     teacher     about     ten 

^  years       later,       when      his 

younger  brother,  John,  was 
entering  the  Charterhouse. 
Charles,  the  youngest  son, 
entered  Westminster  School 
in  17 16.  Thus  for  four 
years  before  John  went  up 
to  Oxford  the  three  broth- 
ers were  in  London  to- 
gether. 

In  a  letter  recently 
brought  to  light  the  rector 
of  Epworth,  in  attendance 
upon  Convocation  in  Lon- 
don in  May,  171 1,  writes  of  the  good  fortune  which  was  in 
store  for  his  two  elder  boys: 

I  believ  'twill  be  no  unpleasing  news  to  so  good  a  Friend,  that  my  Son 
is  chosen  from  Westminster  to  Xtchurch,  &  the  week  after  Whitsun-week 
I  design  to  com  to  Oxford  with  him,  &  see  him  matriculated. 

I've  a  younger  son  at  home  whom  the  Dukc  of  Buckingham  has  this 
week  writt  down  for  his  going  into  the  Charterhouse  as  soon  as  he's  of 
age:  so  that  ni}'  time  has  not  been  all  lost  in  London. 

The  younger  son  was  John  Wesley,  who  at  the  age  of  eight 
was  thus  assured  a  free  scholarship  in  the  famous  school  of  the 
Charterhouse.  The  nobleman  to  whose  patronage  the  lad  was 
indebted  was  the  lord  chamberlain  to  Queen  Anne.  The  lit- 
erary duke  had  befriended  the  literary  rector  before,  helping 
him  out  of  his  financial  troubles  in  1703,  and  receiving  from 
him  an  account  of  the  rescue  of  "  Jacky  "  from  the  rectory  fire. 
A  Latin  memorandum  in  John's  own  hand  records  the  dates  of 


V 


Sheffield,  Duke  of  Buckingham. 

The  nobleman  who  nominated  John  Wesley 
to  a  scholarship  at  the  Charterhouse. 


The  Gownboy  of  the  Charterh(~)use. 


41 


his  admission  to  school  and  university  opportunities:    ^'Joan. 

West  ley  ad  nominat.  ducts  de  Bucks  admiss.  in  fiindat.  Car  thus. 

28 Jan.  niS-I^.     Ad.   Univ.  21^  June  1120." 

Never  had    boys   a   nobler    "private    education"    than  the 

"plain  hving  and  high  thinking"  of  the  Epworth  rectory  had 
afforded  the  Wesley s.  When  John  went  to  the  Charterhouse 
he  suffered  less  from  the  hardships  of  school  life  than  many 
who  had  been  reared  in  the  lap  of  luxury.  Already  he  was  "a 
diligent  and  successful  scholar  and  a  patient  and  forgiving  boy, 
who  had  at  home  been  inured,  not  indeed  to  oppression  but  to 
hard  living  and  scanty  fare."  Nevertheless,  from  the  Epworth 
home  to  the  cheerless  Charterhouse  must  have  been  a  trying 
experience  even  for  a  boy  like  John,  who  was  not  yet  eleven 
years  old. 

The  school  of  the  Charterhouse  celebrated  its  one  hundredth 
anniversary  the  year  that  little  John  Wesley  came  to  live 
within  its  walls,  but  its  buildings  were  much  more  ancient, 
having  beer  a  part  of  a  great  Carthusian  monastery.  Sir 
Thomas  Sutton,  one  of  the  merchant  princes  of  Queen  Eliza- 
beth's reign,  had  bought  the  buildings  and  established  in  them 
a  school  and  a  home  for  old  men.  Forty-four  boys  were  "on 
the  foundation" — that  is,  they  were  educated  at  the  expense  of 
the^  Sutton  fund — and  it  was  as  one  of  these  charity  scholars 
that  John  Wesley  gained  admission.  He  had  his  meals  in  the 
gownboys'  dining  hall,  a  low-ceiled  room,  adorned  by  a  carved 
chimney-piece  with  the  founder's  arms  sculptured  above. 
Tradition  says  that  it  had  been  the  refectory  of  the  lay 
brothers  of  the  monastery. 

Here  in  Wesley's  day  discipline  was  so  lax  that  the  boys  of 
the  higher  form  were  suffered  to  rob  the  small  boys  of  their 
portions  of  animal  food,  and  Wesley  himself  says,  "From  ten 
to  fourteen  I  had  little  but  bread  to  eat,  and  not  great  plenty 
of  that.     I  believe  this  was  so  far  from  hurting  me  that  it  laid 


42 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist, 


The  Charterhouse. 

The  Upper  Green— playground.  The  boys'  dining  room. 

The  chapel  in  which  Wesley  worshiped  as  a  boy. 
Old  view  of  the  Charterhouse.  Schoolroom  (the  gownboys'  dormitory  above). 


Thk  Gownboy  of  the  Charterhouse.  43 

the  foundation  of  lastin^t,^  health. "  Isaac  Taylor  says :  ' '  Wesley 
learned  as  a  boy  to  suffer  wrongfully  with  a  cheerful  patience, 
and  to  conform  himself  to  cruel  despotisms  without  acquiring 
either  the  slave's  temper  or  the  despot's."  He  faithfully 
obeyed  his  father's  instructions  to  run  round  the  green  three 
times  every  morning,  "and  this,"  declares  a  recent  writer  in  the 
Charterhouse  School  Magazine,  "would  amount  to  one  mile,  as 
we  know  to  our  cost,  having  repeatedly  done  it  ourselves  in 
exceedingly  bad  time. "  But  it  is  in  chapel  "that  one  naturally 
thinks  of  the  little  gownboy  in  his  black  cloth  gown  and  knee 
breeches,  sitting  in  one  of  the  rows  of  seats  which  may  still  be 
seen  just  in  front  of  the  foimder's  tomb;  and  close  to  his  left, 
in  a  sort  of  glorified  pepper  box  of  strange  construction,  sat  the 
great  head  master,  Thomas  Walker,  who  had  himself  been  a 
gownboy !  A  little  farther  away,  in  the  corner  near  the  pulpit, 
sat,  in  a  similar  pepper  box,  Andrew  Tooke,  usher,  or  second 
master." 

Sarah  Wesley,  the  daughter  of  Charles  Wesley,  in  a  letter  to 
Adain  Clarke,  written  from  Marylebone  in  1809,  gives  the  true 
version  of  an  anecdote  about  Tooke  and  John  Wesley  which 
was  related  to  her  by  her  father: 

When  John  Wesley  was  at  the  Charterhouse,  the  schoolmaster,  Mr. 
Tooke,  missing  all  the  little  boys  in  the  playground,  supposed  them  by 
their  quietness  to  be  in  some  mischief.  Searching,  he  found  them  all 
assembled  in  the  schoolroom  around  my  uncle,  who  was  amusing  them 
with  instructive  tales,  to  which  they  listened  rather  than  follow  their 
accustomed  sports.  The  master  expressed  much  approbation  toward 
them  and  John  Wesley,  and  he  wished  him  to  repeat  this  entertainment 
as  often  as  he  could  obtain  auditors  and  so  well  employ  his  time. 

Sarah  Wesley  wrote  this  letter  to  confute  a  malicious  ver- 
sion of  the  story  by  Nightingale,  which  represents  Wesley  as 
haranguing  his  schoolfellows  from  the  writing  desk  and,  when 
rebuked  for  associating  with  the  smaller  boys,  replying,  "Better 
to  rule  in  hell  than  serve  in  heaven." 


44 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


Of  his  religious  life  as  a  schoolboy  Wesley  himself  gives  us  a 
glimpse.  In  1738,  after  describing  his  early  life  at  Epworth, 
he  wrote :  ' '  The  next  six  or  seven  years  were  spent  at  school, 
where,  outward  restraints  being  removed,  I  was  much  more 
negligent  than  before,  even  of  outward  duties,  and  almost  con- 
tinually guilty  of  outward  sins,  which  I  knew  to  be  such, 
though  they  were  not  scandalous  in  the  eye  of  the  world. 
However,  I  still  read  the  Scriptures  and  said  my  prayers  morn- 


The  Great  Dining  Hall,  Charterhouse. 


ing  and  evening,  and  what  I  now  hoped  to  be  saved  by  was, 
(i)  not  being  so  bad  as  other  people;  (2)  having  still  a 
kindness  for  religion;  and  (3)  reading  the  Bible,  going  to 
church,  and  saying  my  prayers."  Defective  as  this  was,  Rigg 
justly  considers  Tyerman's  judgment  on  the  schoolboy,  based 
on  this  confession,  too  severe — "John  Wesley  entered  the 
Charterhouse  a  saint,  and  left  it  a  sinner."  It  is  clear  that 
"  Wesley  never  lost,  even  at  the  Charterhouse,  a  tender  respect 
for  religion,  the  fear  of  God,  and  the   forms  of  Christian  pro- 


The  Gownbov  of  the  Charterhouse. 


45 


priety.  It  was  no  slight  evidence  of  at  least  the  powerful 
restraining-  influence  of  religion  that  he  passed  through  such 
an  ordeal  as  his  six  or  seven  years'  residence  without  contract- 
ing any  taint  of  vice." 

The  death  of  Queen  Anne,  his  father's  benefactress,  occurred 
during  John  Wesley's  first  year  in  school,  and  the  excitement 
which  it  occasioned  must  have  passed  within  the  school  gates. 
Dr.  Sacheverell,  the  agitator,  stirred  the  populace  to  riots  over 
the  new  king's  attitude  to  the  Church. 

Toward  the  close  of  his  schooldays  Wesley  had  occasion  to 
visit  Sacheverell,  who  still 
held  the  living  of  St.  An- 
drew's. The  boy's  early  en- 
vironment must  have  satu- 
rated his  mind  with  Tory 
and  High  Church  ideas,  but 
his  regard  for  one  of  their 
chief  exponents  received  a 
rude  shock  when  he  vi-sited 
the  turbulent  and  pompous 
clerg}"man.  "I  remember," 
says  Alexander  Knox,  ' '  Mr. 
Wesley  told  us  that  his  father 
was  the  person  who  composed  the  well-known  speech  delivered 
by  Dr.  Sacheverell  at  the  close  of  his  trial;  and  on  this  ground, 
when  he,  Mr.  John  Wesley,  was  about  to  be  entered  at  Oxford^ 
his  father,  knowing  that  the  doctor  had  a  strong  interest  in 
the  college  for  which  his  son  was  intended,  desired  him  to  call 
on  the  doctor  in  his  way  to  get  letters  of  recommendation. 
'When  I  was  introduced,'  said  Mr.  Wesley,  'I  found  him 
alone,  as  tall  as  a  maypole,  and  as  fine  as  an  archbishop.  I 
was  a  little  fellow.  He  said,  "  You  are  too  young  to  go  to  the 
university;  you  cannot  know  Greek  and  Latin  yet.     Go  back 


A  Gownboy. 

The  costume  worn  by  John  Wesley  as  a 
boy  in  Charterhouse  School. 


46  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

to  school."  I  looked  at  him  as  David  looked  at  Goliath,  and 
despised  him  in  my  heart.  I  thought,  "If  I  do  not  know- 
Greek  and  Latin  better  than  you,  I  ought  to  go  back  to  school 
indeed."  I  left  him,  and  neither  entreaties  nor  commands 
could  have  again  brought  me  back  to  him. '  " 

The  coffeehouses  were  the  chief  social  institution  of  the 
metropolis.  At  Smith's  coffeehouse,  Stockmarket,  Samuel 
Wesley  and  his  colleagues  of  the  Athenian  Society  used  to 
meet.  As  young  Wesley  passed  by  these  he  might  have 
caught  a  glimpse  of  those  famous  old  Charterhouse  boys, 
Steele  and  Addison.  Just  before  John  w^as  at  the  school 
Addison's  hymns,  "When  all  thy  mercies,  O  mj^  God,"  and 
"  The  spacious  firmament  on  high,"  appeared  in  the  Spectator, 
and  must  have  been  read  with  pride  by  the  Charterhouse  mas- 
ters. More  than  twenty  years  after  (1737)  Wesley  inserted 
them  in  his  first  Hymn  Book,  and  thus  introduced  them  into 
the  public  worship  of  the  churches. 

The  story  of  "the  rectory  ghost"  must  have  at  least  a 
word.  "Old  Jeffrey,"  as  the  children  named  him,  did  not 
begin  his  antics  until  John  had  left  Epw^orth  for  the  Charter- 
house School.  Strange  noises  w^ere  heard  at  night  and  during 
famil}^  prayers — knocks  and  groans  and  rattling  doors  and 
pans;  trenchers  danced  and  dogs  howled.  Clergymen  and 
others  urged  Wesley  to  leave  the  "haunted"  parsonage,  but 
he  replied,  "No;  let  the  devil  flee  from  inc ;  I  will  not  flee 
from  him."  On  the  general  question  of  apparitions  Mrs. 
Wesley  guardedly  wrote  to  "  Dear  Jacky  "  in  1719:  "  I  do  not 
doubt  the  fact,  but  I  cannot  imderstand  why  these  apparitions 
are  permitted.  If  they  were  allowed  to  speak  to  us,  and  w^e 
had  strength  to  bear  such  converse — if  they  had  commission  to 
inform  us  of  anything  relating  to  their  invisible  world  that 
would  be  of  any  use  to  us  in  this — if  they  w^ould  instruct  us 
how  to  avoid  danger,  or  put  us  in  a  way  of  being  wiser  and 


The  Gownboy  of  the  Charterhouse. 


47 


better,  there  would  be  sense  in  it ;  but  to  appear  for  no  end 
that  we  know  of,  unless  to  frighten  people  almost  out  of  their 
wits,  seems  altogether  unreasonable."  There  is  much  of 
Susanna  Wesley's  character- 
istic common  sense  in  these 
words.  The  latest  biographer 
of  Mrs.  Wesley — Eliza  Clarke, 
1886 — states  that  about  a  hun- 
dred years  after  the  Wesleys 
had  left  Ep  worth  strange 
noises  were  heard  in  the  rec- 
tory, and  the  incmnbent,  not 
being  able  to  trace  or  account 
for  them,  went  away  with  his 
family  and  resided  abroad  for 
some  time.  The  present  rec- 
tor is  of  the  opinion  that 
'  Old  Jeffrey '  is,  to  some 
extent,      answerable      for      a 

marked  feature  in  Wesley's  character — his  love  of  the  marvel- 
ous and  his  intense  belief  in  the  reality  of  apparitions  and  of 
witchcraft." 

One  minor  incident,  which  is  linked  in  a  singular  way  with  /^"3-<rl 
the  history  of  Methodism,  ought  not  to  be  omitted.  While 
John  and  Charles  Wesley  were  at  school  an  explosion  took 
place  which  John  must  have  heard,  for  the  Charterhouse  was 
not  many  minutes'  walk  from  the  place  where  it  occurred,  and 
which  Charles  might  have  heard,  as  there  were  few  biuldings  to 
break  the  sound,  save  the  quiet  hamlet  of  Charing,  between  the 
city  proper  and  Westminster.  As  the  building  at  which  the  ex- 
plosion occurred  became,  twenty-three  years  afterward,  the  first 
Methodist  chapel,  the  account  which  appeared  in  Newsletter  of 
May  12,  1 7 16,  has  for  us  a  more  than  ordinary  interest: 


Staircase  to  the  "  Haunted  "  Chamber. 


48  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

On  Thursday  night  last,  at  a  quarter  past  nine,  as  they  were  casting  three 
pieces  of  cannon  of  an  extraordinary  size,  at  Mr.  Bayley's,  a  founder  on 
Windmill  Hill,  soon  after' the  second  cannon  was  poured  into  the  mould, 
the  same  burst  (occasioned  by  some  small  damp),  whereby  Mr.  Hill,  one  of 
the  clerks  belonging  to  the  Ordnance,  was  so  mangled  that  he  died  yester- 
day morning  between  three  and  four  o'clock.  Mr.  Whiteman,  who  keeps  a 
public-house  hard  by,  and  about  ten  or  twelve  more  being  present  at  this 
sad  accident,  were  so  dreadfully  wounded  that  their  lives  are  despaired 
of.  Several  persons  of  distinction  were  expected  there  on  this  occasion, 
but  happily  they  did  not  come. 

That  explosion  was  followed  by  important  consequences  to 
the  nation  and  the  Church.  Vulcan  migrated  with  his  molds 
and  sledges  from  Windmill  Hill,  Moorfields,  to  Woolwich,  and 
created  the  Royal  Arsenal.  The  shattered  foundry,  after 
nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century's  abandonment  to  uselessness 
and  silence,  became  the  mother  church  of  the  whole  family  of 
Methodist  churches  in  both  hemispheres,  on  all  continents,  and 
on  many  a  distant  island  of  the  sea. 

In  1720  John  Wesley  left  the  Charterhouse  for  Christ  Church 
College,  Oxford,  taking  with  him  a  school  "exhibition"  prize 
of  ^40  a  year,  the  equivalent  in  purchasing  power  of  some  ^160 
at  the  present  day. 

Wesley  looked  back  upon  his  years  at  school  "not  only 
without  bitterness,  but  with  pleasure."  He  would  have 
agreed  with  the  later  Carthusian,  Thackeray,  that  the  pupils 
educated  there  "love  to  revisit  it,  and  the  oldest  of  us  grow 
young  again  for  an  hour  or  two  as  we  come  back  into  those 
scenes  of  our  boyhood." 

We  get  an  interesting  record  of  one  of  Wesley's  later  visits 
in  his  Journal  (1757):  "  Aug.  8th.  I  took  a  walk  in  the  Char- 
terhouse. I  wondered  that  all  the  squares  and  buildings,  and 
especially  the  schoolboys,  looked  so  little.  But  this  is  easily 
accounted  for.  I  was  little  myself  when  I  w^as  at  school,  and 
measured  all  about  me  by  myself.  Accordingly  the  upper 
boys  .   .   .   seemed  to  me  very  big  and  tall,  quite  contrary  to 


The  Gownboy  of  the  Charterhouse. 


49 


what   they  appear  now,    when   I   am    taller  and   bigger    than 
them. " 

Another  link  with  the  Charterhouse  is  found  in  Wesley's 
friendship  for  Pepusch,  the  famous  musician,  "a  profound 
student  of  the  ancient  Greek  modes  and  systems,"  who  also 
advanced  English  love  of  music  by  adapting  old  national  and 
popular  airs  to  modern  words.  After  his  wife's  death  he  left 
his  sumptuous  house  and  took  the  lya-:  of  organist  at  the 
Charterhouse.     Wesley  records  several  visits  to  him. 


Entrance  to  the  Charterhouse. 

Contact  with  the  first  musicians  of  their  day,  including  not 
only  Pepusch,  but  the  greater  master,  Handel,  must  have  done 
much  to  form  the  musical  tastes  of  the  two  brothers,  who  were 
the  great  leaders  of  a  modern  reform  in  the  music  for  worship 
in  the  churches. 

To  appreciate  the  astounding  energy  of  the  Wesleys  in 
sacred  psalmody,  and  their  numerous  publications  of  hymns, 
often  accompanied  with  music,  through  all  their  public  career, 
one  must  recognize  the  impulse  which  they  received  from  this 
early  acquaintanceship  with  a  master. 
4 


Jf-tc^.^^'C^K 


50  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  John  Wesley  had  educational 
advantages  beyond  his  brothers.  Samuel  had  left  Epworth  at 
fourteen,  and  entered  Westminster  School  in  London,  going 
thence  to  Oxford,  and  after  graduation  returning  to  teach  at 
Westminster.  He  was  a  fine  classical  scholar,  a  poet  of  taste 
and  talent,  and  the  friend  of  the  great  poets  of  his  day. 
Charles  Wesley  came  to  study  at  Westminster,  in  1716,  while 
John  was  still  at  the  Charterhouse.  vSamuel  found  a  home  for 
the  little  boy  of  nine,  and  defrayed  the  expenses  of  his  educa- 
tion until  he  W(jn  a  place  as  king's  scholar,  in  1721,  when  his 
board  and  schooling  became  free.  A  few  years  later  we  find 
him  captain  of  the  school,  and  so  becoming  the  link  between 
the  masters  and  the  four  hundred  boys.  Westminster  has 
been  particularly  rich  in  poets,  and  Charles  Wesley's  best 
work  as  a  sacred  lyrical  poet  was  to  bring  new  honor  to  the 
school  which  trained  Ben  Jonson,  Cowley,  Dryden,  George 
Herbert,  Cowper,  and  Sou  they. 


The  Crisis  at  Oxford.  51 


CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Crisis  at  Oxford. 

A  Freshman  of  Christ  Church. — No  Religious  Friends. — Letters  from 

Home. — Choosing  a  Profession. — The  First  Convert. — 

Fellow  of  Lincoln. — Curate  at  Wroote. 

»^OHN  WESLEY  came  tip  from  the  Charterhouse  School  to 
I  Oxford  University  in  the  early  summer  of  1720,  and 
matriculated  at  Christ  Church  College.  With  all  its 
fame  as  the  chief  English  university,  Oxford  was  not  at  that 
time  an  inspiring  or  stimulating  place.  Its  religion  had  for 
the  most  part  hardened  into  the  most  inflexible  and  spiritless 
forms  of  High  Churchism,  and  the  undergraduate  life  was  rude, 
gay,  and  dissolute.  Foppery,  conviviality,  and  roistering  were 
not  altogether  restricted  to  this  class,  for  the  dons  were  stig- 
matized as  greedy,  dissipated,  rude,  covetous,  and  stupid. 
How  far  the  lad  from  Epworth  went  with  these  gay  com- 
panions we  do  not  know.  He  afterward  accused  himself  of 
having  been  sinful  and  contented  at  this  period,  but  the  pra)^- 
ing  mother  and  the  habit  of  the  home  which  had  made  him  a 
praying  and  Bible-reading  schoolbo)^  still  bound  him  to  these 
religious  observances  and  probably  restrained  him  from  fla- 
grant vice.  It  was  five  years,  however,  before  he  awakened  to 
the  serious  purpose  of  life.  He  was  until  then  content  to  stand 
well  in  his  studies,  siupassing  all  in  logical  acuteness,  and  to 
be  a  favorite  wuth  his  fellows. 

His  contemporary  at  Christ  Church,  Bad  cock,  describes  him 
as  "  the  very  sensible  and  acute  collegian,  baffling  every  man 
by  the  subtleties  of  logic,  and  laughing  at  them  for  being  so 


52 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


easily  routed ;  a  young  fellow  of  the  finest  classical  taste,  of  the 
most  liberal  and  manly  sentiments;  "  "gay  and  sprightly,  with 


[rj,s':,  ^s£-K'c  ,'fi^ai^^^'htci^  al  (^t^Jt 


^ 


^ 


yf 


C.    -^• 


^7 


j(n- 


c:^CT7C0n .     ^ 


A  Letter  from  John  Wesley  at  Oxford  to  the  Treasurer  of  the  Charterhouse. 

a  turn  for  wit  and  humor."  He  wrote  sparkling  letters  to  his 
friends,  and  his  brother  Samuel  received  some  stanzas  after 
the  Latin,  composed  as  a  college  exercise,  on  "Cloe's  Favorite 


The  Crisis  at  Oxford.  53 

Flea."  In  more  sedate  mood  he  sent  verses  on  the  65th  psalm 
to  his  father,  who  was  pleased  with  them,  and  urged  him  not 
to  bury  his  talent.  His  letters  reveal  a  wealth  of  family  affec- 
tion and  warm  interest  in  all  the  little  details  of  the  home  life 
at  Epworth  and  at  Wroote. 

In  1724  the  family  removed  to  Wroote,  the  living-  which  his 
father  at  this  time  held  with  Epworth.  Begging  for  letters 
from  his  sisters,  he  says:  "I  should  be  glad  to  hear  how  things 
go  on  at  Wroote,  which  I  now  remember  with  more  pleasure 
than  Epworth;  so  true  it  is,  at  least  to  me,  that  the  persons,  not 
the  place,  make  home  so  pleasant.''  His  sister  Emilia  was  the 
eldest  of  the  gifted  sisters.  "Her  love  for  her  mother  was 
strong  as  death,  and  she  regarded  her  brother  John  with  a 
passionate  fondness.  Though  so  much  younger  than  herself, 
she  selected  him  as  her  most  intimate  companion,  her  counselor 
in  difficulties,  to  whom  'her  heart  lay  open  at  all  times.'" 
Wesley  was  a  most  affectionate  brother,  and  his  letters  show 
that  he  was  the  opposite  of  the  "semistoical  person,  destitute 
of  homely  warmth  and  kindness,"  which  some  of  his  critics 
have  supposed  him  to  be. 

For  the  first  time  Wesley  became  troubled  about  his  health, 
and  on  one  occasion,  while  walking  in  the  country,  he  stopped 
violent  bleeding  of  the  nose  by  the  somewhat  drastic  method 
of  plunging  into  the  river.  He  read  Cheyne's  Book  of  Health 
and  Long  Life,  a  plea  for  exercise  and  temperance.  This 
book  led  Wesley  to  eat  sparingly  and  drink  water,  a  change 
which  he  considered  to  be  one  means  of  preserving  his  health. 
He  had  a  constant  struggle  "  to  make  ends  meet,"  although 
there  is  no  evidence  to  show  that  he  was  extravagant.  "  Dear 
Jack,"  wrote  his  mother,  " be  not  discouraged ;  do  your  duty, 
keep  close  to  your  studies,  and  hope  for  better  days.  Perhaps, 
notwithstanding  all,  we  shall  pick  up  a  few  citnnbs  for  you 
before  the  end  of  the  year.      Dear  Jacky,  I  beseech  Almighty 


54 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist, 


God  to  bless  thee."  This  letter  was  written  just  after  he  had 
taken  his  bachelor's  degree,  in  1724.  Two  years  later  he 
secured  the  Lincoln  fellowship,  which  brought  him  financial 
relief. 

When  John  Wesley  was  twenty-tw^o  years  of  age,  in  1725,  he 
came  to  a  turning  point  in  his  life:  he  faced  the  question  of  his 
future  work.      The  prospect  of  taking  holy  orders  aw^akened 


The  Front  of  Christ  Church  College,  Oxford. 
The  college  of  Samuel,  Jr.,  John,  and  Charles  Wesley. 


his  most  serious  thought,  but  he  realized  his  spiritual  imfitness 
for  the  work  of  the  ministry.  He  had  not  fallen  into  flagrant 
sin;  the  aristocratic  and  expensive  vice  of  some  of  the  young 
noblemen  at  Christ  Church  was  scarcely  possible  for  him, 
even  had  he  desired  it.  The  letters  of  his  mother  carried 
always  with  them  the  aroma  of  her  tender  love  and  the  purity  of 
the  Epworth  life.  He  never  lost  his  strong  and  touching  love 
for  his  brothers  and  sisters.  His  love  of  learning,  stimulated 
by  his  father's  letters,  was  a  safeguard  from  idleness. 


The  Crisis  at  Oxford.  55 

But  the  divine  fire  burned  low.  John  Wesley  had  become 
simply  the  gay  collegian,  a  general  favorite  in  society,  a  spar- 
kling wit ;  maintaining  a  high  repute  for  scholarship,  but,  accord- 
ing to  his  own  account,  comparatively  indifferent  to  spiritual 
things.  He  writes:  "I  had  not  all  this  while  so  much  as  a 
notion  of  inward  holiness;  nay,  went  on  habitually,  and  for  the 
most  part  very  contentedly,  in  some  one  or  other  known  sin, 
though  with  some  intermission  and  short  struggles,  especially 
before  and  after  the  Holy  Communion,  which  I  was  obliged  to 
receive  thrice  a  year."  Late  one  night  he  had  a  conversation 
with  the  porter  of  his  college,  which  began  with  pleasantry, 
but  ended  with  a  point  that  deeply  impressed  the  merry 
student:  

"Go  home  and  get  another  coat,"  said  Wesley.  A^txi.*^t.<-^-t^ 

"  This  is  the  only  coat  I  have  in  the  world,  and  I  thank  God 
for  it,"  replied  the  porter.  t^"--*-*^       ; 

"Go  home  and  get  your  supper,  then,"  said  the  young 
student. 

"I  have  had  nothing  to-day  but  a  drink  of  water,  and  I 
thank  God  for  that,"  rejoined  the  other. 

"It  is  late,  and  you  will  be  locked  out,  and  then  what  will 
you  have  to  thank  God  for  ? " 

"  I  will  thank  him  that  I  have  the  dry  stones  to  lie  upon." 

"John,"  said  Wesley,  "you  thank  God  when  you  have 
nothing  to  wear,  nothing  to  eat,  and  no  bed  to  lie  upon;  what 
else  do  you  thank  him  for?  " 

"  I  thank  him,"  responded  the  good  man,  "  that  he  has  given 
me  my  life  and  being,  a  heart  to  love  him,  and  a  desire  to 
serve  him;"  and  the  porter's  word  and  tone  made  Wesley  feel 
that  there  was  something  in  religion  which  he  had  not  as  yet 
found. 

He  wrote  home  in  regard  to  entering  the  ministry.  His 
father's  reply  was  written  with  a  trembling  pen:  "You  see," 


56  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

wrote  the  old  man,  "Time  has  shaken  me  by  the  hand,  and 
Death  is  but  a  little  way  behind  him.  My  eyes  and  heart  are 
now  almost  all  I  have  left,  and  I  bless  God  for  them. "  He  coun- 
seled delay,  not  liking  "a  callow  clergyman,"  and  fearing,  too, 
that  his  motive  might  be  "as  Eli's  son's,  to  eat  a  piece  of  bread. " 
But  his  mother -judged  his  character  better,  and  marked  the 
change  in  her  son's  tone  of  thought.  The  rector  came  around 
—as  he  generally  did — to  the  opinion  of  his  wife.  The  latter 
writes:  "Mr.  Wesley  differs  from  me,  and  would  engage  you, 
I  believe,  in  critical  learning,  which,  though  incidentally  of 
use,  is  in  nowise  preferable  to  the  other  (practical  divinity).  I 
earnestly  pray  God  to  avert  that  great  evil  from  you  of  engag- 
ing in  trifling  studies  to  the  neglect  of  such  as  are  absolutely 
necessary.  I  dare  advise  nothing.  God  Almighty  direct  and 
bless  you !  .  .  .  Now  in  good  earnest  resolve  to  make  religion 
the  business  of  your  life,  for,  after  all,  that  is  the  one  thing 
that,  strictly  speaking,  is  necessary,  and  all  things  else  are 
comparatively  little  to  the  purposes  of  life."  Then  his 
mother's  words  become  more  pointed:  "I  heartily  wish  you 
would  now  enter  upon  a  serious  examination  of  yourself,  that 
you  may  know  whether  you  have  a  reasonable  hope  of  salva- 
tion by  Jesus  Christ.  If  you  have,  the  satisfaction  of  knowing 
it  will  abundantly  reward  your  pains;  if  you  have  not,  you  will 
find  a  more  reasonable  occasion  for  tears  than  can  be  met  with 
in  a  tragedy," 

His  father  again  cautioned  him  against  taking  up  the  min- 
istry as  a  mere  means  of  livelihood,  adding  that  "the  principal 
spring  and  motive  .  .  .  must  certainly  be  the  glory  of  God, 
and  the  service  of  the  Church  in  the  edification  of  our  neigh- 
bor. And  woe  to  him  who  with  any  meaner  leading  view 
attempts  so  sacred  a  work. "  The  young  man  was  in  a  mood 
to  heed  such  noble  words. 

At  this  time,  and  a  year  later,  Wesley  came  under  the  influ- 


The  Crisis  at  Oxford.  57 

ence  of  some  remarkable  books  which  he  never  ceased  to  hold 
in  high  esteem,  though  he  found  deliverance  from  their  ascetic 
and  mystic  tendencies.  They  were  Thomas  a  Kempis's  Imita- 
tion of  Christ  (in  Stanhope's  translation,  The  Christian  Pat- 
tern); Taylor's  Holy  Living  and  Dying;  and  later,  Law's 
Serious  Call,  and  Christian  Perfection. 

The  Christian  Pattern  profoundly  moved  the  heart  of  Wes- 
ley. It  had  been  his  father's  favorite  book,  his  "great  and 
old  companion."  Its  sentences  make  us  feel  while  we  read 
them  as  though  we  had  laid  our  hand  on  the  heart,  throbbing 
with  sorrows  like  our  own,  which  beat  so  many  years  ago  in 
the  old  mystic's  breast. 

Wesley  writes  in  his  Journal:  "The  providence  of  God 
directing  me  to  Kempis's  Christian  Pattern,  I  began  to  see 
that  true  religion  was  seated  in  the  heart,  and  that  God's  law 
extended  to  all  our  thoughts  as  well  as  words  and  actions.  I 
was,  however,  very  angry  at  Kempis  for  being  too  strict, 
though  I  read  him  only  in  Dean  Stanhope's  translation.  .  .  . 
Meeting  likewise  with  a  religious  friend,  which  I  never  had  till 
now,  I  began  to  alter  the  whole  form  of  my  conversation,  and 
to  set  in  earnest  upon  a  new  life.  I  set  apart  an  hour  or  two 
a  day  for  religious  retireinent.  I  communicated  every  week. 
I  watched  against  all  sin,  whether  in  word  or  deed.  I  began 
to  aim  at  and  pray  for  inward  holiness.  vSo  that  now,  '  doing 
so  much  and  living  so  good  a  life, '  I  doubted  not  but  I  was  a 
good  Christian." 

Canon  Overton  marks  the  irony  of  the  last  sentence,  and  asks 
if  it  is  not  right  in  this  case  to  defend  John  Wesley  against 
John  Wesley.  While  thoroughly  believing  in  the  reality  and 
importance  of  the  later  change,  he  thinks  it  cannot  be  denied 
that  Wesley  from  this  time  forward  led  a  most  devoted  life. 
Rigg  believes  he  sees  here  the  doctrine  of  entire  Christian 
consecration  and  holiness,  which  afterward  developed  into  the 


58  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

Methodist  doctrine  of  Christian  perfection.  Full  of  spiritual 
beauty  are  Wesley's  own  words:  "I  saw  that  simplicity  of 
intention  and  purity  of  affection,  one  design  in  all  we  speak 
and  do,  and  one  desire  ruling  all  our  tempers,  are  indeed  the 
wings  of  the  soul,  without  which  she  can  never  ascend  to  God. 
I  sought  after  this  from  that  hour. " 

Jeremy  Taylor's  Holy  Living  and  Dying  strengthened  the 
convictions  awakened  by  a  Kempis.  "In  reading  several  parts 
of  this  book, "  says  Wesley,  "  I  was  exceedingly  affected.  .  .  . 
I  resolved  to  dedicate  all  my  life  to  God — all  my  thoughts  and 
words  and  actions — being  thoroughly  conscious  that  there  was 
no  medium,  but  that  every  part  of  my  life,  not  some  only, 
must  either  be  a  sacrifice  to  God  or  myself ;  that  is,  in  effect, 
to  the  devil."  Well  does  Tyerman  note  that  here  we  have  the 
turning  point  in  Wesley's  history.  It  was  not  until  thirteen 
years  after  this  that  he  received  the  consciousness  of  being 
saved  through  faith  in  Christ,  but  from  this  time  his  whole  aim 
was  to  serve  God  and  his  fellow-men. 

Another  result  of  reading  Taylor  was  the  commencement  of 
the  famous  Journals.  They  now  occupy  a  well-recognized 
place  in  the  literature  of  the  eighteenth  century,  but  they  were 
the  outcome  of  Wesley's  spiritual  resolve  to  make  a  more 
careful  use  of  all  his  time,  and  to  keep  an  account  of  its 
employment. 

Although  during  the  next  few  years  Wesley  became  an 
ascetic,  with  High  Church  beliefs,  strong  ritualistic  tendencies, 
and  a  mystical  bias,  he  was  repelled  by  a  Kempis's  extreme 
doctrine  of  self-mortification,  and  Taylor's  morbid  teaching  as 
to  the  necessity  of  perpetual  sorrowful  uncertainty  concerning 
personal  salvation.     In  a  letter  to  his  mother  he  writes: 

If  we  dwell  in  Christ  and  he  in  us  (which  he  will  not  do  unless  we  are 
regenerate),  certainly  we  mv:st  be  sensible  of  it.  If  we  can  never  have 
any  certainty  of  our  being  in  a  state  of  salvation,  good  reason  it  is  that 


Thk  Crisis  at  Oxford.  59 

every  moment  should  be  spent  not  in  joy,  but  in  fear  and  trembling,  and 
then  undoubtedly  we  are  in  this  life,  of  all  men,  most  miserable.  God 
deliver  us  from  such  a  fearful  doctrine  as  this ! 

Here,  ill  1725,  we  have  the  basis  of  another  of  the  character- 
istic doctrines  of  the  coming-  Methodism — that  of  a  present 
salvation  from  guilt  and  fear  through  the  indwelling  of  Christ. 
This  was  opposed  to  the  Carolan  High  Churchmauship  of 
Taylor,  as  well  as  to  Calvinism.  But  Wesley  had  yet  to  learn 
by  experience  the  power  of  evangelical  faith  which  laid  the 
foundation  of  his  later  teaching  on  conversion  and  the  ' '  witness 
of  the  Spirit." 

In  the  same  memorable  year,  1725,  Wesley  and  his  mother 
rejected  the  doctrine  of  Predestination,  which  for  centuries  had 
terrified  many  earnest  souls,  and  narrowed  the  sympathies  and 
work  of  the  Christian  Church.  Wesley  asks:  "How  is  this 
consistent  with  either  the  divine  justice  or  mercy?  Is  it  mercy 
to  ordain  a  creature  to  everlasting  misery?  Is  it  just  to  punish 
man  for  crimes  which  he  could  not  but  commit  ?  That  God 
should  be  the  author  of  sin  and  injustice — which  must,  I  think, 
be  the  consequence  of  maintaining  this  opinion — is  a  contra- 
diction of  the  clearest  idea  we  have  of  the  divine  nature  and 
perfections."     To  this  his  mother  replies: 

The  doctrine  of  Predestination,  as  maintained  by  rigid  Calvinists,  is 
very  shocking,  and  ought  to  be  abhorred,  because  it  directly  charges  the 
most  high  God  with  being  the  author  of  sin.  I  think  you  reason  well  and 
justly  against  it,  for  it  is  certainly  inconsistent  with  the  justness  and 
goodness  of  God  to  lay  any  man  under  either  a  physical  or  moral  necessity 
of  committing  sin,  and  then  to  punish  him  for  doing  it. 

Hugh  Price  Hughes,  in  the  Contemporary  Review  for  March, 
1897,  declared : 

John  Wesley  killed  Calvinism.  No  really  instructed  and  responsible 
theologian  dares  to  assert  now  that  Christ  died  only  for  a  portion  of  man- 
kind, although  the  full  logical  effect  of  asserting  the  redemption  of  the 
entire  race  has  not  yet  been  universally  realized.  Little  did  the  young 
Oxonian  dream  in   1725  that  he  and  his  mother  were  sowing  the  seed  of 


6o  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

the  bitterest  theological  controversy  of  his  life,  over  which  Methodism 
would  be  rent  in  twain  by  an  irreparable  schism,  that  would  unhappily 
leave  the  evangelical  section  of  the  Established  Church  on  the  wrong  side 
of  the  breach,  doomed  to  the  comparative  helplessness  we  witness  to-day, 
although  it  would  burst  his  fetters  and  enable  him  to  exclaim,  with  pro- 
phetic truth,  "  The  world  is  my  parish." 

In  the  midsummer  of  this  same  year,  while  preparing  for 
ordination,  Wesley  won  his  first  convert.  He  tells  his  mother: 
"  I  stole  out  of  company  at  eight  in  the  evening  with  a  young 
gentleman  with  whom  I  was  intimate.  As  we  took  a  turn  in 
an  aisle  of  St.  Mary's  Church,  in  expectation  of  a  young  lady's 
funeral,  with  whom  we  were  both  acquainted,  I  asked  him  if  he 
really  thought  himself  my  friend;  and,  if  he  did,  why  he  would 
not  do  me  all  the  good  he  could.  He  began  to  protest,  in 
which  I  cut  him  short  by  desiring  him  to  oblige  me  in  an 
instance  which  he  could  not  deny  to  be  in  his  own  power,  to  let 
me  have  the  pleasure  of  making  him  a  whole  Christian,  to 
which  I  knew  he  was  at  least  half  persuaded  already ;  that  he 
could  not  do  me  a  greater  kindness,  as  both  of  us  would  be 
fully  convinced  when  we  came  to  follow  that  young  woman." 
The  word  went  home.  Eighteen  months  afterward  the  young 
man  died  of  consumption,  and  Wesley  preached  his  funeral 
sermon. 

Wesley's  earnestness  soon  exposed  him  to  the  raillery  of  the 
college  wits,  and  this  evoked  a  characteristic  clarion  blast  from 
his  father:  "Does  anyone  think  the  devil  is  dead,  or  asleep,  or 
has  no  agents  left?  Surely  virtue  can  bear  being  laughed  at. 
The  Captain  and  Master  endured  something  more  for  us  before 
he  entered  into  glory,  and  unless  we  track  his  steps,  in  vain  do 
we  hope  to  share  that  glory  with  him."  As  leaders  of  the 
militant  host  of  God  both  the  Wesleys  owed  much  of  their 
moral  muscle  to  their  father,  and  that  old  soldier's  words  echo 
in  many  a  war  song  by  Charles  Wesley. 

John  Wesley  was  ordained  deacon  by  John  Potter,  Bishop  of 


The  Crisis  at  Oxford.  6i 


Oxford,  in  Christ  Church  Cathedral,  Oxford,  on   vSunday,  Sep-  ^  .    ,     ■  — > 

tember  19,  1725,  and  priest  on  September  22,  1728.     His  ^x^X.^^^'^-'^^jfr^^'^V^^ 
sermon  was  preached  at  South   Leigh,  in  Oxfordshire,  in  1725.  '^^^'^    ^jj-^^'i-^x 
Of  the  fruitlessness  of  all  this  early  preaching  he  wrote  long    flibfiA/'-''^-^^^^''^^ 
afterward:   "Preaching  was  defective  and  fruitless,  for  'from 
1725  to  1729  I  neither  laid  the  foundation  of  repentance  nor  of 
preaching  the  Gospel,  taking  it  for  granted  that  all  to  whom   I 
preached  were  believers,    and  that  many  of  them   needed  no 


'  "ih'uierrfU,  ykKctx-5.  \^X3. 

•^W  ^<^  M)  /U  //^  ^Mr^t 

Facsimile  in  the  handwriting  of  Adam  Clarke,  who  adds  these  words:  "Transcribed 
literatim  from  Mr.  J.  Wesley's  certificate  which  seems  to  have  been  drawn  up  & 
sent  to  Bp  Potter,  to  ascertain  Mr.  J.  Wesley's  age  previously  to  his  being  ordained. 

"A.  Clarke." 

repentance.  From  1729  to  1734,  laying  a  deeper  foundation  of 
repentance,  I  saw  a  little  fruit.  But  it  was  only  a  little — and 
no  wonder;  for  I  did  not  preach  faith  in  the  blood  of  the 
covenant. " 

There  was  great  rejoicing  in  the  rectory  at  Wroote  on 
March  17,  1726,  when  John  Wesley  was  elected  a  fellow  of 
Lincoln  College.  His  father  had  only  ^5  to  keep  his  family 
from  March  until  after  harvest,  but  he  wrote  in  high  spirits: 
"What  will  be  my  own  fate,  God  knows,  before  this  sum- 
mer   is    over  —  srd  passi   graviora    [but   we    have    suffered 


62  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

heavier  troubles].  Wherever  I  am,  my  Jack  is  a  fellow  of 
Lincoln." 

For  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  Wesley  was  connected 
with  Lincoln  College,  and  its  name  appears  on  the  title  pages 
of  all  his  works.  The  college  was  founded  in  the  fifteenth 
century  by  two  Bishops  of  Lincoln,  who  were  bent  on  extirpat- 
ing the  Wyclifite  heresies  and  other  opinions  dangerous  to  the 
Church.  Goldwin  Smith  says:  "The  two  orthodox  prelates 
would  have  stood  aghast  if  they  could  have  foreseen  that  their 
little  college  of  true  theologians  would  one  day  number  among 
its  fellows  John  Wesley,  and  that  Methodism  would  be  cradled 
within  its  walls." 

Wesley's  Lincoln  apartments  are  the  second-floor  rooms  on 
the  right,  or  south,  side  of  the  first  quadrangle  opposite  the 
clock  tower.  In  these  rooms  the  "  Holy  Club"  met  in  1729. 
Hundreds  of  visitors  ramble  into  this  quiet  quadrangle  to-day, 
many  of  them  from  the  colonies  and  America.  They  pluck  a 
leaf  from  the  vine,  look  into  the  study  of  the  man  whose  parish 
was  the  world,  visit  the  chapel,  with  its  windows  of  rich  stained 
glass,  stand  in  the  pulpit  from  which  Wesley  preached,  and 
gaze  upon  his  portrait  by  Williams,  in  the  dining  hall. 

Wesley  found  the  moral  tone  and  discipline  of  Lincoln 
superior,  on  the  whole,  to  that  of  other  colleges,  and  the  fellows 
" both  well-natured  and  well-bred."  He  was  soon  appointed 
Greek  lecturer  and  moderator  of  the  classes.  It  became  his 
duty  to  lecture  weekly  in  the  college  hall  to  all  the  undergradu- 
ates on  the  Greek  Testament.  The  Greek  text  was  the  basis 
of  the  lecture,  but  the  main  object  was  to  teach  divinity,  not 
merely  a  language.  As  moderator  of  the  classes  he  presided 
over  the  disputations,  held  every  day  except  Sunday.  The 
disputants  argned  on  one  side  or  the  other;  the  moderator  had 
to  listen  to  the  arguments,  and  then  to  decide  with  whom  the 
victory  lay.     John   Locke,    at    Christ   Church   seventy  years 


The  Crisis  at  Oxford. 


63 


before,  lamented  the  "unprofitableness  of  these  verbal  nice- 
ties; "  but  Wesley  writes,  "  I  could  not  avoid  acquiring  there- 
by some  degree  of  expertness  in  arguing,  and  especially  in  dis- 
covering and  pointing  out  well-covered  and  plausible  fallacies. 
I  have  since  found  abundant  reason  to  praise  God  for  giving 
me  this  honest  art. " 

He  became  a  hard  and  wide  student,  and,   indeed,  continued 
such  all  his  life.      Hebrew,  Arabic,  Greek,  Latin,  logic,  ethics, 


Wesley's  Rooms,  Lincoln  College,  and  the  "Wesley  Vine." 

metaphysics,  natural  philosophy,  oratory,  poetry,  and  divinity 
entered  into  his  weekly  plan  of  study.  He  obtained  the  degree 
of  Master  of  Arts  in  1727,  acquiring  much  reputation  in  his 
disputation  for  his  degree.  His  financial  struggles  were  over, 
but  he  was  rigid  in  his  economy  and  was  able  to  help  his  father 
and  his  family  to  the  end  of  life.  He  saved  about  £2  a  year 
by  allowing  his  hair  to  grow  long,  in  spite  of  the  protest  of  his 
mother,  thus  escaping  the  expense  of  a  wig.  In  a  letter  to  his 
brother  Samuel  occurs  his  well-known  sentence:   jf'  Leisure  and 


7h,^.f/-Li 


64 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist, 


■OtriA^^UA^ 


I  have  taken  leave  of  one  another.     I  propose  to  be  busy  as 
long  as  I  live,  if  my  health  is  so  long  indulged  me," 
/O        I  00         His  brother  Charles  came  tip   from  Westminster  School  to 

^     i  a  yi^t^t^jL     ^-^I'i^^  Church  soon  after  John  Wesley's  removal  to  Lincoln. 
'        ./    'y/''  When  John  spoke  to  him  about  religion  he  said,  "  What,  would 

you  have  me  to  be  a  saint  all  at  once?"  and  would  hear  no 
more.  But  the  heart  of  John  was  set  upon  saintliness.  He 
courteously  broke  off  acquaintanceships  which  hindered  him, 
after  fruitless  attempts  to  bring  his  companions  to  his  own 
serious  view  of  life.  He  now  began  the  system  of  early  rising, 
which  he  contimied  to  the  end  of  life.  He  could  say,  after 
sixty  years,  that  he  still  rose  at  four  o'clock. 

His  father  was  now  sixty-five  years  of  age,  and  in  feeble  health. 
To  fill  the  small  living  of  Wroote  in  addition  to  that  of  Epworth, 
he  needed  a  curate.  A  school  in  Yorkshire  had  been  offered 
John,  with  a  good  income,  and  he  was  attracted  by  the  seclu- 
sion it  promised,  but  his  mother  saw  that  God  had  better  work 
for  him  to  do,  and,  again  following  her  advice,  he  declined  it. 
He  went  to  Lincolnshire  and  acted  as  his  father's  curate  for 
two  and  a  quarter  years,  returning  at  intervals  to  Oxford. 
This  was  the  only  experience  he  ever  had  in  parochial  work. 

Wroote  was  surroitnded  by  fens,  and  often  had  to  be  reached 
by  boat.  During  one  journey,  in  1728,  Wesley  narrowly 
escaped  drowning,  the  fierce  current  driving  the  boat  against 
another  craft  and  filling  it  with  water.  The  small  brick  church 
in  which  he  preached  at  Wroote  was  taken  down  a  century  ago 
and  the  material  used  for  paving  the  streets  of  Epworth.  One 
incident  of  this  period  is  worth  preserving,  as  it  bears  upon  the 
organized  fellowship  of  the  Methodists.  He  tells  us  that  he 
traveled  several  miles  to  converse  with  a  "serious  man"  who 
said  to  him,  "Sir,  you  wish  to  serve  God  and  go  to  heaven. 
Remember  you  cannot  serve  him  alone;  you  must  therefore 
find   companions  or  make  them ;   the  Bible  knows  nothing  of 


The  Crisis  at  Oxford, 


65 


solitary  religion."  He  was  recalled  to  Oxford  by  the  rector  of 
his  college  in  1729,  and  found  the  Methodist  movement  com- 
menced by  his  brother  Charles. 

Wesley  was  becoming  an  earnest  ascetic  ritualist.      He  held 


Sketches  of  Lincoln  College. 
Arms  of  Lincoln  College.    The  chapel,  Lincoln  College.    The  pulpit  in  Lincoln  Chapel. 

that  water  should  be  mixed  with  the  wine  in  the  daily  Holy 
Comraimion.  He  advised  something  near  akin  to  confession, 
as  a  racy  letter  from  his  sister  Emelia  shows: 

To  lay  open  the  state  of  my  soul  to  you,  or  any  of  our  clergy,  is  what 
I  have  no  inclination  to  do  at  present ;  and  I  believe  I  never  shall.     I  shall 


66  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

not  put  my  conscience  under  the  direction  of  mortal  man  as  frail  as  myself. 
To  my  own  Master  I  stand  or  fall.  Nay,  I  scruple  not  to  say  that  all  such 
desire  in  you  or  any  other  ecclesiastic  seems  to  me  like  Church  tyranny, 
and  assuming  to  yourselves  a  dominion  over  your  fellow-creatures  which 
was  never  designed  you  by  God. 


The  old  Puritan  spirit  comes  out  in  the  letter  of  this  sister, 
who  had  the  Puritan  blood  in  her  veins.  Her  brother  was 
teaching  almost  all  that  a  High  Anglican  of  to-day  teaches, 
except  that  he  does  not  appear  to  have  held  to  the  "  conversion 
of  the  elements"  in  the  Eucharist.  A  little  later,  under  the 
influence  of  his  friend  Clayton,  he  left  the  gitidance  of  the 
Bible  to  follow  that  of  tradition,  or  such  pretended  tradition  as 
the  Apostolical  Constitutions,  He  says  of  himself  that  he 
"  made  antiquity  a  coordinate  rule  with  Scripture." 

The  strict  High  Churchman  also  sought  rest  for  his  heart  in 
mysticism.  He  first  read  AVilliam  Law's  Christian  Perfection 
and  Serious  Call  in  1728  or  1729,  These  two  powerful  devo- 
tional treatises  did  not  contain  the  mystical  errors  of  Law's 
later  teaching.  Although  in  later  years  Wesley  diverged 
widely  from  Law,  he  never  lost  his  admiration  for  the  Serious 
Call.  A  very  short  time  before  his  death  he  spoke  of  it  as  a 
"  treatise  which  will  hardly  ever  be  excelled,  if  it  be  equaled, 
in  the  English  tongue,  either  for  beauty  of  expression  or  for 
justice  and  depth  of  thought."  He  owned  that  Law's  two 
books  sowed  the  seed  of  Methodism. 

Later  Law  went  astray  into  the  fields  of  mysticism.  Wesley 
visited  him  at  Putney  in  1732,  and  from  that  period  began  to 
read  the  German  mystics.  Their  noble  descriptions  of  union 
with  God  and  internal  religion  deeply  impressed  him,  but  he 
never  followed  Law  into  the  "unfathomable  confusions "  of 
Behmen.  He  never  accepted  the  theories  which  deny  the 
necessity  of  the  means  of  grace.  He  appears  to  have  extri- 
cated himself  from  the  meshes  of  mysticism  during  his  sojourn 


The  Crisis  at  Oxford.  67 

in  Georgia,  and  writes  to  his  brother  Samuel:  "  I  think  the  rock 
on  which  I  had  the  nearest  made  shipwreck  of  the  faith  was 
the  writings  of  the  mystics ;  under  which  term  I  comprehend 
all  and  only  those  who  slight  any  of  the  means  of  grace. "  He 
asks  his  brother  to  give  him  his  thoughts  upon  the  scheme  of 
their  doctrines  which  he  has  drawn  up,  and  thinks  they  ma}- be 
of  consequence  "not  only  to  all  this  province,  but  to  nations 
of  Christians  yet  unborn,"  Thus  this  Christian  knight  was 
delivered  from  this  "wandering  fire;"  he  never  passed  "into 
the  silent  life,"  and  we  must  return  with  him  to  Oxford  to 
practice  the  counsel  of  the  "serious  "  countryman  who  told  him 
that  "  the  Bible  knows  nothing  of  solitary  religion." 


68  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  Holy  CI«b. 

Charles  Wesley   Begins  It. — "  Methodists." — John   Wesley  its   Father. — 
"  Men  of  One  Book." — Works  of  Mercy  and  Help.— The  Oxford 
Methodists. — Whitefield.— Death  of  the  Epworth  Rec- 
tor.— Reserved  for  a  Better  Appointment. 

aHARLEvS  WESLEY  came  up  to  Christ  Church,  m  1726, 
a  bright,  rollicking-  young  fellow,  "with  more  genius 
than  grace."  He  had  objected  to  becoming  "a  saint 
all  at  once."  But  the  rebuff  did  not  estrange  the  brothers,  and 
soon  after  John  went  to  Wroote,  Charles  wrote  to  him  in  a 
very  changed  mood,  seeking  the  counsel  which  before  he  had 
spurned.  Lamenting  his  former  state  of  insensibility,  he 
declared:  "There  is  no  one  person  I  would  so  willingly  have 
to  be  the  instrument  of  good  to  me  as  you.  It  is  owing,  in 
great  measure,  to  somebody's  prayers  (my  mother's  most 
likely)  that  I  am  come  to  think  as  I  do;  for  I  cannot  tell 
myself  how  or  why  I  awoke  out  of  my  lethargy,  only  that  it 
was  not' long  after  you  went  away."  He  not  only  gave  him- 
self with  zest  to  his  studies,  but  began  to  attend  the  weekly 
sacrament  and  induce  others  to  unite  with  him  in  seeking  true 
holiness.  He  and  his  companions  adopted  certain  rules  for 
right  living,  and  apportioned  their  time  exactly  to  study  and 
religious  duties,  allotting  as  little  as  possible  to  sleeping  and 
eating,  and  as  much  as  possible  to  devotion.  This  precise  regu- 
larity caused  a  young  gentleman  of  Christ  Church  to  say  deris- 
ively, "  Here  is  a  new  set  of  Methodists  sprung  up." 

Charles   Wesley   says   that    the   name   of    Methodist    ' '  was 


The  Holy  Clur.  69 

bestowed  upon  himself  and  his  friends  because  of  their  strict 
conformity  to  the  method  of  study  prescribed  by  the  univer- 
sity." John  Wesley,  in  an  address  to  Georg-e  II,  designates 
his  societies  "  the  people  in  derision  called  Methodists,"  and  in 
his  English  Dictionary  makes  good  use  of  the  word.  He^ 
defines  a  Methodist  as  ' '  one  that  lives  according  to  the  method 
laid  down  in  the  Bible. " 


g^*ihtje:tA<n!iUUA' 


(Jvcrton,  with  an  honorable  regard  for  his  own  college 
worthy  of  Wesley  himself,  says:  "A  Lincoln  man  may  be '^^V/'' *^'^^'*'^  > 
pardoned  for  remarking  with  satisfaction  that  Lincoln  had  /'^T'*''*''*'^'  "^  ''/ 
nothing  to  do  with  the  feeble  jokes  which  were  made  upon  ^"'^^^'^  (^t-tt-^-tx^ 
these  good  earnest  youths.  Christ  Church  and  Merton  must 
divide  the  honor  between  them.  The  Holy  Club,  Bible 
Bigots,  Bible  Moths,  Sacramentarians,  Supererogation  Men, 
Methodists— all  these  titles  were  invented  by  the  fertile 
brains  of  '  the  wits '  to  cast  opprobrium,  as  they  thought,  but 
really  to  confer  honor  upon  a  perfectly  inoffensive  band  of 
young  men  who  only  desired  to  be  what  they  and  their  oppo- 
nents were  alike  called — Christians.  An  Oxford  man  may, 
indeed,  blush  for  his  university  when  he  reflects  that  these 
young  men  could  not  even  attend  the  highest  service  of  the 
Chiirch  without  running  the  g'auntlet  of  a  jeering  rabble,  prin- 
cipally compo.sed  of  men  who  were  actually  being-  prepared  for 
the  sacred  ministry  of  that  Church." 

When  John  Wesley  returned  to  Oxford  he  at  once  became  Qir^v^ 
the  leader  of  this  little  band  formed  by  his  brother.  His  age,  ''^  '■  ' 
his  genius  for  generalship,  his  position  in  the  university,  his 
superior  learning,  made  this  a  matter  of  course.  And  Charles 
rejoiced  in  this.  A  more  perfect  instance  of  real  brotherhood 
it  would  be  difficult  to  find  in  history.  The  elder  always  spoke 
of  the  work  which  was  being  done  as  their  joint  work.  "My 
brother  and  I,"  is  the  expression  he  constantly  used  in  describ- 
ing it.     Charles  was  by  no  means  the  mere  "  man  Friday  "  of 


P 


70  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

his  brother,  as  some  have  supposed.  He  would  not  have  been 
a  Wesley  if  he  had  not  given  proof  of  magnificent  individ- 
uality. It  must  be  remembered  that  he  was  the  first  Metho- 
dist. He  was  to  take  his  full  share  in  the  work  of  the  great 
revival,  not  only  as  a  poet,  but  as  a  preacher.  But  John  Wes- 
ley was  nicknamed  "  the  Curator  of  the  Holy  Club,"  or,  some- 
times, "the  Father  of  the  Holy  Club."  The  old  rector  of 
Epworth,  hearing  of  John's  new  title,  wrote:  "If  this  be  so, 
I  am  sure  I  am  the  grandfather  of  it ;  and  I  need  not  say  that 
I  had  rather  any  of  my  sons  should  be  so  dignified  and  distin- 
guished than  to  have  the  title  of  '  His  Holiness.'  " 

Gambold  says:  "Mr.  John  Wesley  was  always  the  chief 
manager,  for  which  he  was  very  fit;  for  he  not  only  had  more 
learning  and  experience  than  the  rest,  but  he  was  blest  with 
such  activity  as  to  be  always  gaining  ground,  and  such  steadi- 
ness that  he  lost  none.  What  proposals  he  made  to  any  were 
sure  to  charm  them,  because  they  saw  him  always  the  same. 
What  supported  this  uniform  vigor  was  the  care  he  took  to 
consider  well  of  every  affair  before  he  engaged  in  it,  making 
all  his  decisions  in  the  fear  of  God,  without  passion,  humor, 
or  self-confidence;  for  though  he  had  naturally  a  very  clear 
apprehension,  yet  his  exact  prudence  depended  more  on 
humanity  and  singleness  of  heart.  To  this  I  may  add,  that  he 
had,  I  think,  something  of  authority  on  his  countenance,  though, 
as  he  did  not  want  address,  he  could  soften  his  manner  and 
point  it  as  occasion  required.  Yet  he  never  assumed  anything 
to  himself  above  his  companions.  Any  of  them  might  speak 
their  mind,  and  their  words- were  as  strictly  regarded  by  him 
as  his  were  by  them." 

The  first  work  of  the  Holy  Club  was  the  study  of  the  Bible. 
The  new  movement  was  spiritual,  humanitarian,  but,  first  and 
strongest  of  all,  scriptural.  The  searching  of  the  Scriptures 
was  earnest,    open-minded,   devout,    unceasing.     Wesley  him- 


The  Holy  Club.  73 

self  said:  "From  the  very  beginning^ — from  the  time  that 
four  young  men  imited  together — each  of  them  was  homo  iinius 
libri ;  a  man  of  one  book.  .  .  .  They  had  one,  and  only  one 
rule  of  judgment.  .  .  .  They  were  continually  reproached  for 
this  very  thing,  some  terming  them  in  derision  Bible  Bigots; 
others,  Bible  Moths;  feeding,  they  said,  upon  the  Bible  as 
moths  do  on  cloth.  .  .  .  And  indeed,  unto  this  day,  it  is  their 
constant  endeavor  to  think  and  speak  as  the  oracles  of  God."] 
This  fundamental  fact  in  the  history  of  Methodism  must  never 
be  lost  to  view. 

At  first  the  friends  met  every  Sunday  evening;  then  two 
evenings  in  every  week  were  passed  together,  and  at  last  every 
evening  from  six  to  nine.  They  began  their  meetings  with 
prayer,  studied  the  Greek  Testament  and  the  classics,  reviewed 
the  work  of  the  past  day,  and  talked  over  their  plans  for  the 
morrow,  closing  all  with  a  frugal  supper.  They  received  the 
Lord's  Supper  weekly,  fasted  twice  a  week,  and  instituted  a 
searching  system  of  self-examination,  aiming  in  all  things  to  do 
the  will  of  God  and  be  zealous  of  good  works. 

The  first  flower  of  the  study  of  the  Bible  was  a  new  philan 
thropy.     William  Morgan,    of    Christ   Church,    visited   a    con 
demned  wife  murderer  in  the  castle  jail ;  Morgan  also  conversed  T 
with  the  debtors  in  prison,  and  was  convinced  that  good  might  a..->., 
be  done  among  them.      On  August  24,  1730,  the  brothers  Wes-  O 

ley  went  with  him  to  the  castle,  and  from  that  time  forward 
the  prisoners  became  their  special  care.  Morgan  also  began 
the  work  of  visiting  the  sick.  John  Wesley  wrote  to  his  father 
for  counsel,  and  received  an  inspiring  letter:  "I  have  the 
highest  reason  to  bless  God  that  he  has  given  me  two  sons 
together  at  Oxford,  to  whom  he  has  given  grace  and  courage 
to  turn  the  war  against  the  world  and  the  devil,  which  is  the 
best  way  to  conquer  them." 

The  Bishop  of  Oxford  gave  the  young  men  his  approval,  and 


74 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


the  visiting  was  extended  to  poor  families  in  the  city.  Chil- 
dren were  also  taught.  One  of  these,  a  poor  girl,  called  upon 
Wesley  in  a  state  of  great  destitution.  He  said  to  her, ' '  You  seem 
half  starved;  have  you  nothing  to  cover  you  but  that  thin  linen 
gown?"  She  replied,  "Sir,  this  is  all  I  have."  Wesley  put 
his  hand  into  his  pocket,  but  found  it  nearly  empty.      The  walls 


Bocardo,  the  Prison,  Oxford. 

Where  the  Oxford  Methodists  did  works  of  "mercy  and  help." 

of  his  chamber,  however,  were  hung  with  pictiires,  and  they 
seemed  to  accuse  him.  "It  struck  me,"  he  sa}^s,  "  '  Will  thy 
Master  say,  "Well  done,  good  and  faithful  steward"?  Thou 
hast  adorned  thy  walls  with  the  money  which  might  have 
screened  this  poor  creature  from  the  cold!  O  Justice!  O 
Mercy!  Are  not  these  pictures  the  blood  of  this  poor 
maid? ' " 


The  Holy  Clui 


75 


It  was  the  practice,  he  says,  of  all  the  Oxford  Methodists  to 
give  away  each  year  all  they  had  after  providing  for  their  own 
necessities.  He  himself,  having  thirty  pounds  a  year,  lived  on 
twenty-eight,  and  gave  away  two.  The  next  year,  receiving 
sixty  pounds,  he  still  lived  on  twenty-eight  and  gave  away 
thirty-two.  The  third  year  he  received  ninety  pounds  and 
gave  away  sixty-two.  The  fourth  year  he  received  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  pounds,  and  still  lived  on  twenty-eight  as 
before,  giving  to  the  poor  all  the  rest. 

While  the  number  of  the  Methodists  was  only  four  at  first, 
in  the  following  year  two  or  three  other  students  desired  the 
liberty  of  meeting  with  them,  and  these  were  joined  by  one 
of  Charles  Wesley's  students.  In  1732  Benjamin  Ingham,  of 
Queens;  Thomas  Broughton,  of  Exeter;  John  Clayton,  of 
Brazenose;  James  Hervey,  and  two  or  three  others,  were 
admitted  to  the  club,  and  in  1735  George  Whitefield,  of  Pem- 
broke, became  a  member.  The  numbers  fluctuated,  and  when 
the  Wesleys  sailed  for  Georgia  the  Holy  Club  had  thirteen 
members.  In  1733  there  were  twenty-seven  Methodist  com- 
municants. During  one  of  Wesley's  absences  at  Epworth  the 
number  dwindled  to  five,  but  it  rallied  again  when  its  leader 
was  once  more  at  the  front.  Of  these  early  Methodists  three 
were  tutors  in  colleges  and  the  rest  were  bachelors  of  arts  or 
undergraduates.  All  were  strictly  orthodox  in  doctrine,  or 
counted  themselves  so;  and  practically  they  had  all  things  in 
common;  that  is,  no  one  was  allowed  to  want  what  another 
was  able  to  spare. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  follow,  if  space  allowed,  the  sub- 
sequent career  of  the  Oxford  Methodists.  The  sympathetic 
Morgan  died  of  consumption  in  1732.  Robert  Kirkham,  whose 
sister  Betty  was  probably  Wesley's  first  sweetheart,  became  an 
Anglican  curate.  John  Clayton  became  a  High  Church  cler- 
gyman, and  a  powerful  preacher,  but  refused  to  recognize  the 


io-^M/jU^^jJ 


76  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

Wesleys  after  they  broke  away  from  Church  usages  and  preached 
in  the  open  air.  Benjamin  Ingham's  friendship  was  of  better 
metal.  He  followed  them  to  Georgia  and  joined  in  their  later 
labor.  John  Gambold,  after  a  brief  experience  as  an  Anglican 
rector,  became  a  Moravian  bishop,  and  wrote  many  hymns. 
James  Hervey  became  a  charitable  country  parson  of  Calvin- 
ist  creed,  who  wrote  the  once  popular  "  Meditations."  Thomas 
Broughton  was  curate  at  the  Tower  of  London,  and  for  the 
better  part  of  his  life  secretary  of  the  Society  for  Promoting 
Christian  Knowledge.  Charles  Kinchin  became  dean  of  Cor- 
pus Christi  College.  He  was  a  liberal  Churchman,  and  main- 
tained a  close  friendship  with  the  Wesleys  through  life.  John 
Whitelamb,  a  protege  of  Rev.  Samuel  Wesley,  Sr. ,  became 
his  curate,  and  married  his  daughter  Mary.  He  was  greatly 
afflicted  and  spent  a  life  of  obscurity  as  rector  of  the  starveling 
parish  of  Wroote,  adjoining  Epworth. 

The  Holy  Club  had  one  member  whose  fame  in  some 
respects  surpassed  them  all — George  Whitefield.  He  was  the 
son  of  an  innkeeper  at  Gloucester,  and  drew  ale  for  the  cus- 
tomers until  he  was  fifteen  years  of  age.  At  the  school  to 
which  he  was  sent  he  made  a  little  stir  with  his  talent  for  ora- 
tory and  acting,  read  Thomas  a  Kempis,  and  began  to  dream 
of  being  a  minister.  At  eighteen  he  entered  Pembroke  Col- 
lege, Oxford,  as  a  servitor,  for  which  his  bartending  experience 
served  him  well.  He  was  drawn  to  the  Holy  Club,  but  in  his 
poverty  dared  not  join  these  young  gentlemen,  though  he 
often  gazed  at  them  with  deep  emotion  as  they  passed  through 
a  jeering  crowd  to  receive  the  sacrament  at  St.  Mary's.  At 
length  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  Charles  Wesley,  who  gave 
him  religious  counsel  and  helpful  books,  which  brought  him  a 
powerful  religious  experience. 

He  learned  that  true  religion  did  not  consist  in  going  to 
church,  or  faithfulness  in  any  external  duties,  but  was  a  union 


I J     id  /  /k  (T^  X^  as 


"  'J 


jr   C^    7^'^^<'^nri1u/'  f^  ^ ly  u^dC  ai-a-^  a^ioL  0-a^. 6 i A, 


r^hi  ^  &L    ca^//L4it~    ale  £^  <9i*^  u  od  a  d^-    t/C^t 


A  Lesson  for  the  Holy  Club. 
Facsimile  of  a  page  of  John  Wesley's  notes  on  the  third  chapter  of  St  John's  ^osnel 
SrcS/irs  ?.  K^eS  S  tn^r  '^-'-'''  -'-  ^'  -  -^  post"  :n^oTS 


The  Holy  Club. 


79 


of  the  soul  with  God;  and  that  he  must  be  a  new  creature.  It 
was  an  era  in  his  history.  He  says;  "I  found  and  felt  in 
myself  that  I  was  delivered  from  the  burden  that  had  so 
heavily  oppressed  me.  The  spirit  of  mourning  was  taken 
from  me,  and  I  knew  what  it  was  truly  to  rejoice  in  God  my 
Saviour.  The  day-star  arose  in  my  heart.  I  know  the  place; 
it  may  perhaps  be  superstitious,  but  wdienever  I  go  to  Oxford 
I  cannot  help  running  to  the  spot  where  Jesus  Christ  first 
revealed  himself  to  me  and  gave  me  a  new  birth. "  This  was 
"^  i735»  when  he  was  in  his  twenty-first  year.  He  was  the 
first  of  the  Holy  Club  to  come  into  this  divine  experience. 
That  he  did  not  at  once  communicate  it  to  the  Wesley  brothers, 
who  for  three  years  still  groped  in  the  twilight  of  legalism, 
may  be  partly  owing  to  the  difference  which,  on  account  of 
their  superiority  in  learning  and  social  position,  would  keep 
him  from  presuming  to  teach  them,  but  still  more  was  it  due 
to  the  fact  that  they  became  at  this  time  separated  from  him 
by  their  preparations  for  departure  to  America. 

The  Father  of  the  Holy  Club  remained  in  residence  at  Lin- 
coln College  until  1735.  For  a  time  in  1730  he  held  a  curacy 
near  Oxford.  He  now^  began  to  converse  in  Latin  with  his 
brother,  a  habit  which  became  lifelong.  They  walked  to 
Epworth,  seventy-five  miles,  on  foot,  in  1731,  and  John  visited 
London  in  that  year  and  the  next,  calling  on  William  Law, 
and  joining  the  Society  for  Promoting  Christian  Knowledge. 
In  1734  his  horseback  journeys  aggregated  one  thousand  miles, 
and  he  formed  the  habit  of  reading  in  the  saddle.  At  London 
he  supervised  the  printing  of  his  father's  ponderous  treatise  on 
the  book  of  Job. 

The  aged  rector  of  Epworth  w^as  fast  failing  in  health,  and 
looked  to  one  of  his  sons  to  succeed  him  in  the  living  and  fur- 
nish a  home  for  their  mother  and  sisters.  The- son  Samuel 
thought  he  could  not  resign  his  post  as  headmaster  of  Tiver- 


8o 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


ton  Grammar  School.  They  both  turned  to  John.  He  had 
twenty-six  reasons  against  it,  but  they  were  all  reducible  to 
two;  namely,  that  he  thought  he  could  be  more  holy  and  more 
useful  at  Oxford.  He  says:  "Another  can  supply  my  place  at 
Epworth  better  than  at  Oxford,  and  the  good  done  here  is  of  a 
far  more  diffusive  nature.  It  is  a  more  extensive  benefit  to 
sweeten  the  fountain  than  to  do  the  same  to  particular 
streams. " 

However,  in  spite  of  all  this,  he  seems  to  have  yielded  ulti- 
mately to  the  earnest  pleadings  of  his  father  and  brother,  and, 
no  doubt,  also  the  united  appeals  of  his  mother  and  sisters,  who 
would  otherwise  lose  their  home.  He  consented  to  accept  the 
living  if  it  could  be  procured.  But  for  some  reason,  probably 
the  reports  of  his  extreme  strictness,  the  application  was  unsuc- 
cessful; the  living  of  Epworth  was  given  to  a  clergyman  who 
appears  never  to  have  resided  there,  and  the  work  was  trans- 
ferred to  a  curate.  God  had  something  more  important  for 
John  Wesley. 

The  good  old  rector,  who  had  had  such  a  hard  struggle  all 
through  life,  finished  his  labors  April  25,  1735,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-two.  His  sons  were  by  his  side  during  his  last  hours. 
His  mind  was  at  rest.  He  said  to  John,  "  The  inward  witness, 
son,  the  inward  witness— this  is  the  proof,  the  strongest  proof, 
of  Christianity."  But  it  was  some  years  before  this  son  knew 
much  about  that.  The  day  before  his  death  he  told  Charles, 
"  The  weaker  I  am  in  body  the  stronger  and  more  sensible  sup- 
port I  feci  from  God."  To  the  question,  "Are  you  in  much 
pain?"  he  replied:  "God  does  chasten  me  with  pain,  yea,  all 
my  bones  with  strong  pain.  But  I  thank  him  for  all,  I  bless 
him  for  all,  I  love  him  for  all."  Laying  his  hands  upon  the 
head  of  Charles,  he  said :  "Be  steady.  The  Christian  faith 
will  surely  revive  in  this  kingdom ;  you  shall  see  it,  though  I 
shall  not."     To  his  daughter  Emilia  he  said,  "  Do  not  be  con- 


The  Holy  Club. 


8i 


cerned  at  my  death ;  God  will  then  begin  to  manifest  himself 
to  my  family. "  So  he  peacefully  passed  away,  just  before  sunset, 
and  was  buried  "very  frugally,  yet  decently,  in  the  churchyard, 
according  to  his  own  desire."  Little  did  he  think  to  what 
strange  uses  his  modest  tombstone  would  be  put  in  after  years. 


Grave  of  Rev.  Samuel  Wesley,   Sr.,  in  Epworth  Churchyard. 

The  tombstone  has  a  place  in  Methodist  history,  since  it  served  John  Wesley  for  a 
pulpit  when  he  was  forbidden  to  preach  in  his  father's  church. 

John  Wesley  again  returned  to  Oxford,  whence  he  was,  within 
a  few  montlis,  to  be  removed  to  a  widely  different  sphere  of 
action.  The  group  of  earnest  Christians  who  had  composed  the 
Holy  Club  was  soon  dispersed.  "In  October,  1735,  John  afid 
Charles  Wesley  and  Ingham  left  England,  with  a  design  to  go 
and  preach  to  the  Indians  in  Georgia ;  but  the  rest  of  the  gen- 
tlemen continued  to  meet  till  one  and  another  were  ordained 
6 


82  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

and  left  the  university.      By  which  means,  in  about  two  years' 
time,  scarce  any  of  them  were  left." 

Whitefield  had  some  oversight  of  them  until,  in  February, 
1738,  he  also  embarked  for  Georgia.  Kinchin,  Hutchins,  Kirk- 
ham,  and  others  were  more  or  less  at  Oxford  subsequently,  and 
rendered  valuable  service  in  the  outside  work ;  but  there  was 
not  continuously  a  sufficient  number  to  maintain  the  frequent 
meetings,  and  the  society  was  thus  gradually  dissolved.  The 
influence  of  it  remained  a  while  as  a  sweet  savor  in  Oxford,  and 
was  distributed  widely  by  those  who  left.  After  Wesley's 
return  from  Georgia  he  met  some  of  them,  and  wrote:  "Soon 
after  I  returned  to  England  I  had  a  meeting  with  Messrs.  Ing- 
ham, Stonehouse,  Hall,  Hutchins,  Kinchin,  and  a  few  other 
clergymen,  who  all  appeared  to  be  of  one  heart  as  well  as  of 
one  judgment  resolved  to  be  Bible  Christians  at  all  events,  and, 
wherever  they  were,  to  preach,  with  all  their  might,  plain  old 
Bible  Christianity." 

The  main  purpose  of  these  Oxonian  Methodists  had  been  to 
save  their  own  souls  and  the  souls  of  others.  Though  the  Ht- 
tle  society  passed  away,  yet  through  the  lives  of  these  three 
sons  of  genius  and  of  grace,  John  and  Charles  AVesley  and 
George  Whitefield,  first  a  university  was  aroused,  then  a  king- 
dom was  set  in  a  blaze,  and  the  nations  beyond  the  seas  felt  the 
glow  of  the  divine  fires  whose  new  enkindlings  had  occurred  in 
the  Holy  Club. 

To  the  two  Wesleys,  however,  the  great  doctrines  of  justifi- 
cation by  faith  and  the  witness  of  the  Spirit  were  not  yet  experi- 
mental verities.  And  they  were  to  learn  their  practical  force 
not  from  the  voice  and  pen  of  any  great  teacher  within  their 
own  Church,  but  from  the  lips  of  a  humble  Moravian  preacher, 
and  from  the  glowing  •  commentaries  of  the  great  German 
reformer. 


To  America  and  Back.  83 


CHAPTER  VI. 
To  America  and  Back. 

The   Missionary   Spirit. — Oglethorpe's    Philanthropic   Colony. —John 
Wesley,    Missioner   to   Georgia. — The    High    Churchman   at 
Savannah. — Moravian  Influences. — The  First  Metho- 
dist Hymnal. — An  Unhappy  Ending. 

*-^    ONG  before  the  dawn  of  the  great  societies  the  mission- 
I     r     ary  spirit  was  the  heritage  of  the  Wesley  family.     That 
•  sturdy  Nonconformist,  the  first    John  Westley,  had    a 

burning  desire  to  go  to  Surinam  or  Maryland.  His  son  Samuel, 
the  Epworth  rector,  had  sympathies  that  overleaped  all  paro- 
chial boundaries.  He  devised  a  great  mission  for  India,  China, 
and  Abyssinia,  and  a  year  before  his  death  lamented  that  he 
was  too  infirm  to  go  to  Georgia.  Now  the  imagination  of  his 
Methodist  sons  is  fired  with  the  idea  of  evangelizing  the  In- 
dians, and  the  recently  widowed  "Mother  of  Methodism" 
titters  her  famous  missionary  saying. 

A  royal  charter  had  been  granted  in  1732  for  the  establish- 
ment of  a  colony,  named  after  the  king,  ' '  in  that  part  of  Caro- 
lina which  lies  from  the  most  northern  part  of  the  Savannah 
River  all  along  the  seacoast  to  the  southw^ard."  The  founder 
was  General  James  Edward  Oglethorpe,  an  energetic  and 
humanitarian  member  of  Parliament,  who  was  intent  upon 
reforming  the  condition  of  the  debtors'  prisons  and  providing 
a  new  home  in  a  new  world  where  the  released  prisoners  might 
find  a  hopeful  refuge. 

The  two  Wesleys,  father  and  son,  and  many  of  like  mind, 
took  deep  interest  in  the  plans  for  Georgia,  which  was  to  be 


84  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

not  only  an  anti-slavery  colony,  but  which  was  to  be  a  center 
of  missionary  effort  among  the  Indians.  Oglethorpe  took  out 
his  first  expedition  to  Savannah  early  in  1733.  Other  distressed 
people,  Salzburghers,  German  Protestants,  and  a  company  of 
Highland  Scots,  found  settlement  there.  Certain  Moravians, 
seeking  "  freedom  to  worship  God,"  were  the  fourth  to  arrive. 
The  Wesleys  came  with  the  fifth  migration. 

When  the  Georgian  trustees  were  looking  for  a  missionary, 
some  one  suggested  the  name  of  the  zealous  young  fellow  of  Lin- 
coln. Oglethorpe  liked  the  idea,  but  John  doubted  whether  his 
widowed  mother  could  spare  him.  He  finally  went  home  to  ask 
her.  "Had  I  twenty  sons,"  was  her  noble  reply,  'I  should 
rejoice  that  they  were  all  so  employed,  though  I  should  never 
see  them  more. "  Charles  decided  to  go  as  the  general's  secre- 
tary, and  Ingham,  of  the  Holy  Club,  and  a  young  Londoner 
joined  the  mission,  for  such  they  considered  it. 

Wesley's  motives  are  best  learned  from  his  own  candid  words 
in  a  letter  to  a  friend.  The  apparent  selfishness  of  his  first 
motive  must  be  judged  in  the  light  of  his  frank  confession  of 
his  need  of  the  first  qualification  for  his  mission  and  the  higher 
altruism  of  his  second  motive  :  "  My  chief  motive,"  said  he, 
"  is  the  hope  of  saving  my  own  soul.  I  hope  to  learn  the  true 
sense  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ  by  preaching  it  to  the  heathen. 
They  have  no  cominents  to  construe  away  the  text  ;  no  vain 
philosophy  to  corrupt  it  ;  no  luxurious,  sensual,  covetous,  ambi- 
tious expounders  to  soften  its  unpleasing  truths.  .  .  .  They 
have  no  party,  no  interest  to  serve,  and  are  therefore  fit  to 
receive  the  Gospel  in  its  simplicity.  They  are  as  little  children, 
humble,  willing  to  learn,  and  eager  to  do  the  will  of  God." 
"  I  then  hope  to  know  what  it  is  to  love  my  neighbor  as  my.self, 
and  to  feel  the  powers  of  that  second  motive  to  visit  the  hea- 
then, even  the  desire  to  impart  to  them  what  I  have  received — 
a  saving  knowledge  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ  ;  but  this  I  dare 


To  America  and  Back. 


85 


not  think  on  yet.  It  is  not  for  me,  who  have  been  a  grievous 
sinner  from  my  youth  up,  ...  to  expect  God  should  work  so 
great  things  by  my  hands  ;  but  I  am  assured,  if  I  be  once  con- 
verted myself,  he  will  then  employ  me  both  to  strengthen  my 
brethren  and  to  preach  his  name  to  the  Gentiles. " 


James  OgletTiorp,  Efq;  Member  of  Par- 
L'ament  for  Hailemexe  In  the  County  of 
Surrey,  embarks  oji  board  the  Simmonds^ 
Capt.  CornUh,  for  Georgia,  thi?  Day, 


'Tu^fday  Morning  James  Oglethorpe^ 
Efq^fet  out  hy  Land  for  Grave  fend  ^  and 
the  Re-O.  Mr.  John  WeJIey,  Student  of 
Lincoln  College^  Oxon  j  the  Rev,  Mr. 
Charles  WeJIey^.  Student  of  Qhrijl- 
Church-College^  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  In- 
gram  of  ^een's^  in  order  to  eml^arh  for 
Georgia* 

'^herew'ere  fent  along  with  thefe  Gen- 
tlemen, as  a  Benefa^ion  of  fever ul  wor- 
thy Ladies  and  Gentlemen^  550  of  the 
Btjbop  of  Man's  Treatifes  on  the  Sacra- 
ment, and  his  LorJJhip's  Principles  and 
Duties  of  Chrifiianity,  for  the  ufe  of 
the  Englijh  Families  fettled  in  Georgia. 


The  Newspaper  Notice  of  the  'Wesleys'  Departure  for  America. 
Facsimile  from  Walker's  Weekly  Penny  Journal,  London,  October  i8,  1735. 


The  party  of  "missioners"  embarked  with  Oglethorpe,  Octo- 
ber 18,  1735,  o^  t^^G  Simmonds,  a  vessel. of  two  hundred  and 
twenty  tons.  Twenty-six  Moravians,  under  their  bishop,  David 
Nitschman,and  eighty  English  colonists  were  fellow-passengers. 
Although  they  started  from  Gravesend  in  October,  it  was  De- 
cember before  they  left  England,  and  many  weeks  were  spent  at 


86  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

Cowes,  on  the  Isle  of  Wight,  where  they  had  to  wait  for  the  man- 
of-war  that  was  to  be  their  convoy.  This  gave  time  for  the 
Methodists  to  plan  their  days  as  carefully  as  at  Oxford.  From 
four  to  five  every  morning  was  spent  in  private  prayer ;  then  for 
two  hours  they  read  the  Bible  together,  comparing  it  with  the 
Fathers.  Breakfast  and  public  prayers  filled  two  hours  more. 
From  nine  to  twelve  Charles  Wesley  wrote  sermons,  John 
studied  German,  Delamotte  read  Greek,  and  Ingham  taught 
the  emigrants'  children  ;  and  the  remainder  of  the  day  was  as 
carefully  mapped  out,  all  uniting  with  the  Germans  in  their 
evening  service. 

One  event  of  the  eight  wrecks'  voyage  made  a  deep  impres- 
sion on  John  Wesley.  On  several  occasions  there  were  storms, 
and  he  felt  restless,  and  afraid  to  die.  He  had  made  friends 
with  the  Moravians  and  was  charmed  by  their  sweet  spirit  and 
excellent  discipline.  He  now  found  that  they  were  brave  as 
well  as  gentle.  One  evening  a  storm  burst  just  as  the  Germans 
began  to  sing  a  psalm,  and  the  sea  broke,  split  the  mainsail  in 
shreds,  covered  the  ship,  and  poured  in  between  the  decks  as  if 
the  great  deep  were  swallowing  them  up.  The  English  began 
to  scream  with  terror,  but  the  Germans  calmly  sang  on.  Wes- 
ley asked  one  of  them  afterward : 

"  Were  you  not  afraid  ?  " 

"I  thank  God,  no,"  was  the  reply. 

"  But  were  not  your  women  and  children  afraid  ?  " 

*'  No,"  he  replied  mildly,  "  our  w^omen  and  children  are  not 
afraid  to  die. " 

At  the  close  of  the  day's  Journal  Wesley  writes,  "  This  was 
the  most  glorious  day  which  I  have  hitherto  seen." 

On  February  6,  1736,  the  Simmonds  landed  her  passengers 
in  Georgia.  One  of  Wesley's  first  acquaintances  was  Spangen- 
berg,  a  Moravian  pastor,  whose  advice  he  sought.  The  Ger- 
man said  ; 


To  America  and  Back.  87 

"My  brother,  I  must  first  ask  you  one  or  two  questions: 
Have  you  the  witness  within  yourself  ?  Does  the  vSpirit  of  God 
witness  with  your  spirit  that  you  are  a  child  of  God  ? "  Wes- 
ley knew  not  what  to  answer.  The  preacher,  seeing  his  hesi- 
tation, asked : 

"  Do  you  know  Jesus  Christ  ?  " 

"  I  know,"  said  Wesley,  "he  is  the  Saviour  of  the  world." 
"  True,"  replied  he,  "but  do  you  know  he  has  saved  you  ?  " 
Wesley  answered,  "  I  hope  he  has  died  to  save  me." 
Spangenberg  only  added,  "  Do  you  know  yourself  ? " 
"  I  do,"  was  the  reply;  but  in  his  Journal  he  wrote,  "  I  fear 
they  were  vain  words."     Such  a  spiritual  probing  Wesley  had 
never  before  received.      The  conversation  was  worth  the  jour- 
ney across  the  ocean.      The  flash  of  lightning  left  him  in  dark- 
ness.     He  asked  Spangenberg  many  questions  about  the  Mora- 
vians of  Herrnhut. 

Tomo-chi-chi,  the  chief,  and  other  Indians  called  on  him  and 
expressed  their  friendly  greeting,  but  the  way  of  approach  to 
these  heathen  was  for  the  time  so  hedged  up  that  Wesley  could 
devote  little  attention  to  their  needs. 

John  Wesley  found  Savannah,  with  forty  houses,  built  on  a 
blufE  forty  or  fifty  feet  above  the  bend  of  the  river,  which  here 
was  about  a  thousand  feet  across.  He  began  his  ministry  with 
a  sermon  on  "  Charity"  (i  Cor.  xiii),  and  described  the  death- 
bed of  his  father  at  Epworth.  The  courthouse,  which  served 
as  church,  was  crowded,  and  the  mission  began  with  great 
promise.  Ten  days  later  a  ball  had  to  be  given  up,  for  the 
church  was  full  for  prayers  and  the  ballroom  empty!  A  lady 
told  him  when  he  landed  that  he  would  see  as  well-dressed  a 
congregation  on  Sundays  as  most  which  he  had  seen  in  London. 
He  found  that  she  was  right,  and  he  preached  on  the  subject 
of  dress  with  such  effect  that  gold  and  costly  apparel  disap- 
peared, and  the  ladies  came  to  church  in  plain  linen  or  woolen. 


88 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


Memorials  of  the  Wesleys  in  Georgia. 

Wesley  Church,  Frederica.  Ruins  of  Fort  at  Frederica. 

The  Wesley  Jlonumental  Church,  Savannah. 

"Wesley's  Oak,"  St.  Simon's  Island.  Wesley  Window,  in  Monumental  Church. 


To  America  and  Back.  89 

He  established  day  schools,  teaching  one  himself  and  placing 
Delamotte  in  the  other.  Some  of  Delamotte's  boys  who  wore 
shoes  and  stockings  thought  themselves  superior  to  the  boys 
who  went  barefoot.  To  cure  their  pride  Wesley  changed 
schools  with  his  friend  and  went  to  teach  without  shoes  and 
stockings.  The  boys  stared,  but  Wesley  kept  them  to  their 
work,  and  before  the  end  of  the  week  he  had  cured  the  lads  of 
their  vanity. 

The  Sunday  appointments  were  many.  He  divided  the  pub- 
lic prayers,  reading  the  morning  service  at  five,  having  the 
sermon  and  Holy  Communion  at  eleven,  and  the  evening  serv- 
ice at  three.  There  was  a  meeting  at  his  own  house  for 
reading,  prayer,  and  praise.  At  six  o'clock  he  attended  the 
Moravian  service.  He  catechised  the  children  at  two  o'clock, 
and  during  the  latter  part  of  his  stay  he  had  service  for  the 
Italians  at  nine  and  for  the  French  at  one.  In  two  neighbor- 
ing settlements  he  read  prayers  on  Saturday  in  German  and 
French,  and  he  even  studied  Spanish  in  order  to  converse  with 
some  Spanish  Jews. 

All  might  have  gone  on  well  if,  as  Southey  says,  he  could 
have  taken  the  advice  of  Dr.  Burton,  to  consider  his  parish- 
ioners as  babes  in  their  progress,  and  to  feed  them  with  milk. 
But  "he  drenched  them  with  the  physic  of  an  intolerant  dis- 
cipline." His  High  Churchmanship  manifested  itself  in  all  the 
irritating  forms  common  to  the  sectarian  bigots  who  domineer 
over  timid  villagers  in  some  of  the  rural  parishes  of  England 
to-day,  except  that  he  did  not  resort  to  the  modern  cruelty  of 
depriving  the  poor  and  sick  Dissenters  of  relief  from  public 
charities.  He  refused  the  Lord's  Supper  to  all  who  had  not 
been  episcopally  baptized ;  he  re-baptized  the  children  of  Dis- 
senters, and  he  refused  to  bury  all  who  had  not  received 
Anglican  baptism.  He  insisted  also  on  baptism  by  immersion. 
He   refused  the   Lord's    Supper  to  one  of   the  most   devoted 


go  John  Weslev  the  Methodist. 

Christian  men  in  the  colony,  Bolzius,  the  pastor  of  the  Salz- 
burghers,  because  he  had  not  been  baptized  by  a  minister  who 
had  been  episcopal  ly  ordained.  Many  years  afterward  he  made 
this  comment  on  his  action:  "Can  anyone  carry  High  Church 
zeal  higher  than  this  ?  And  how  well  have  I  been  since  beaten 
with  mine  own  staff!  " 

No  w^onder  was  it  that  a  plain  speaker  said  to  Wesley  at  this 
time:  "The  people  say  they  are  Protestants,  but  as  for  you 
they  cannot  tell  what  religion  you  are  of;  they  never  heard  of 
such  a  religion  before,  and  they  do  not  know  what  to  make 
of  it." 

At  the  same  time,  as  Rigg  has  pointed  out,  Wesley  was 
"inwardly  melting,  and  the  light  of  spiritual  liberty  was  dawn- 
ing on  his  soul."  He  attended  a  Presbyterian  service  at 
Darien,  and,  to  his  great  astonishment,  heard  the  minister  offer 
a  devout  extempore  prayer.  He  was  impressed  by  the  simple 
beauty  of  the  life  of  the  Moravians,  and  they  sent  him  to  the 
New  Testament.  He  read  Bishop  Beveridge's  Pandectce  Can- 
omtvi  Concilioriim,  w^hich  sent  him  to  the  Scriptures  again  as  a 
higher  authority  than  tradition  or  councils.  He  thus  expresses 
to  Wogan  his  opinion  as  to  the  innermost  nature  of  religion: 
' '  I  entirely  agree  with  you  that  religion  is  love  and  peace  and 
joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost;  that,  as  it  is  the  happiest,  so  it  is  the 
cheerfulest  thing  in  the  world ;  that  it  is  utterly  inconsistent 
with  moroseness,  sourness,  and  indeed  with  whatever  is  not 
according  to  the  .   .   ,  gentleness  of  Christ  Jesus. " 

Charles  Wesley,  who  had  accompanied  Oglethorpe  to  Freder- 
ica,  a  new  settlement,  one  himdred  miles  to  the  southward,  had 
no  better  success  in  winning  the  sympathy  of  those  to  whom 
.he  preached.  His  faithful  preaching  at  the  sins  of  his  par- 
ishioners gained  him  enemies,  who  lied  about  him,  and  even 
attempted  his  life,  until  at  a  funeral  service  he  "envied  the 
corpse  his  quiet  grave."     In  1736  he  was  sent  home  to  England 


To  America  and  Back. 


91 


with   dispatches    from    the    i^overnor,    and    saw  no    more    of 
Georgia. 

While  he  was  in  Georgia,  John  Wesley  published  his  first  col- 
lection of  Psalms  and  Hymns.  It  w^as  printed  "  at  Charles- 
Town  "  (Charleston,  vS.  C),  and  the  title-page  is  dated  1737. 
In  a  preface  to  a  reprint  of  this  volume  Osborne  says:  "  It  has 
been  supposed  that  this  Collection  of  Psalms  and  Hymns  was 
the  first  published  in  our  language,  so  that  in  this  provision  for 
the  improvement  of  public  worship  .  .  .  AVesley  led  the  way. " 
His  father's  hymn  rescued  from  the  Epworth  fire,  Addison's 
hymns,  and  some  of  his  own  noble  translations  from  the  Ger- 
man are  included  in  the  collection. 

The  incident  which  terminated  John  Wesley's  usefulness  as 
a  missionary  has  a  somewhat  romantic  interest.  He  fell  deeply 
in  love  with  Miss  Sophia  Hopkey,  the  attractive  niece  of  the 
chief  magistrate  of  Savannah.  On  the  advice  of  his  Moravian 
friends  he  suddenly  decided  not  to  marry  her,  and  she  soon 
married  another.  The  attachment  must  have  been  very  strong, 
for  in  his  old  age  he  wrote  of  the  disappointment:  "I  was 
pierced  through  as  with  a  sword. " 

But  the  matter  did  not  end  here.  Later  Wesley  felt  it  his 
duty  to  rebuke  the  lady  for  inconsistency  of  life  and  to  refuse 
her  the  Communion.  He  was  prosecuted  by  her  husband  for 
so  doing,  but,  as  a  High  Churchman,  refused  to  recognize  the 
authority  of  a  civil  court.  Then  the  storm  burst.  The  colo- 
nists found  many  grievances  against  their  rigid  clergyman,  and 
to  end  the  matter,  on  the  advice  of  his  friends,  he  decided  to 
leave  Georgia. 

So  with  a  heavy  heart,  on  December  2,  1737,  Wesley  took 
boat  with  three  friends  for  Carolina,  on  his  way  to  England. 
After  a  trying  journey  of  ten  days  they  reached  Charleston, 
and  went  on  board  the  Samuel.  After  a  stormy  voyage  Wes- 
ley rejoiced  to   see  "English   land  once  more;    which,   about 


g-  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

noon,  appeared  to  be  the  Lizard  Point,"  and  the  next  day  they 
landed  at  Deal,  only  a  day  after  Whitefield  had  sailed  out. 
Whitefield  afterward  declared :  ''The  good  Mr.  John  Wesley 
has  done  in  America  is  inexpressible.     His  name  is  very  pre- 


n 


^j 


J^'i^Tr^, 


A  Fragment  of  Romaace. 

Facsimfle  of  a  passage  in  Wesley's  MS.  Journal,  written  in  Georgia,  relating  to  the 
engagement  and  marriage  of  Miss  Sophia  Hopkey. 

cious  among  the  people ;  and  he  has  laid  a  foundation  that  I 
hope  neither  men  nor  devils  will  ever  be  able  to  shake.  O  that 
I  mav  follow  him  as  he  has  followed  Christ !  " 

On  his  voyage  home,  and  just  after  he  landed,  Wesley  poured 


To  America  and  Back.  93 

out  his  soul  in  language  which  in  after  years  he  modified  in 
some  of  its  expressions.  He  wrote  in  his  Journal:  "  I  went  to 
Amerioa  to  convert  the  Indians,  but,  O !  who  shall  convert  me  ? 
who,  what  is  he  that  will  deliver  me  from  this  evil  heart  of 
unbelief  ?  I  have  a  fair  summer  religion ;  I  can  talk  well,  nay, 
and  believe  myself,  while  no  danger  is  near;  but  let  death  look 
me  in  the  face,  and  my  spirit  is  troubled.  Nor  can  I  say,  to 
die  is  gain  ...  I  show  my  faith  by  my  works,  by  staking  my 
all  upon  it.  I  would  do  so  again  and  again  a  thousand  times, 
if  the  choice  were  still  to  make.  Whoever  sees  me  sees  I  would 
be  a  Christian.  .  .  .  But  in  a  storm  I  think.  What  if  the  Gos- 
pel be  not  true  ?  .  .  .  O  who  will  deliver  me  from  this  fear  of 
death  ?  .   .   .   Where  shall  I  fly  from  it  ?  " 

The  day  that  he  landed  in  England,  February  i,  1738,  there 
was  another  gloom}'  entry  in  his  Journal,  but  he  ends  it  with 
his  face  toward  the  light :  '  •  This,  then,  have  I  learned  in  the 
ends  of  the  earth,  that  I  '  am  fallen  short  of  the  glory  of  God ; ' 
that  my  whole  heart  is  '  altogether  corrupt  and  abominable ; ' 
.  .  .  that  my  own  works,  my  own  sufferings,  my  own  right- 
eousness, are  so  far  from  reconciling  me  to  an  offended  God, 
.  .  .  that  the  most  specious  of  them  need  an  atonement  them- 
selves; .  .  .  that.  '  ha^-ing  the  sentence  of  death  '  in  my  heart, 
...  I  have  no  hope  .  .  .  but  that  if  I  seek,  I  shall  find  Christ, 
and  '  be  found  in  him,  not  ha^-ing  my  own  righteousness,  but 
that  which  is  through  the  faith  of  Christ,  the  righteousness 
which  is  of  God  by  faith.'"  "I  want  .  .  .  that  faith  which 
enables  every  one  that  hath  it  to  cry  out,  'I  live  not;  .  .  ,  but 
Christ  liveth  in  me;  and  the  life  which  I  now  live,  I  live  bv 
faith  in  the  Son  of  God,  who  loved  me,  and  gave  himself  for  me. ' 
I  want  that  faith  which  none  can  have  without  knowing  he  hath 
it;  [when]  'the  Spirit  itself  beareth  witness  with  his  spirit, 
that  he  is  a  child  of  God.' "' 

^lany  years  later  when  republishing  his  Journals  he  added 


94  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

four  short  notes:  On  the  original  statement,  "I,  who  went 
to  America  to  convert  others,  was  never  myself  converted," 
he  remarks,  ' '  I  am  not  sure  of  this. "  "I  am  a  child  of  wrath, " 
was  his  early  record;  "I  believe  not,"  was  his  later  note. 
And  in  another  note  he  says :  "I  had  even  then  the  faith  of  a 
servant,  though  not  that  of  a  son  " — a  distinction  upon  which 
he  dwells  in  one  of  his  sermons.  In  a  touching  passage  in  a 
letter  to  Bishop  Lavingtou,  written  in  1752,  he  says  that  the 
passages  in  the  Journal  were  written  "in  the  anguish  of  my 
heart,  to  which  I  gave  vent  between  God  and  my  own  soul." 
But  the  anguish  was  soon  to  pass  away,  and  he  was  to  know 
the  full  joy  of  sonship  in  the  family  of  God. 

The  mission  to  Georgia  never  fulfilled  the  ideal  of  the 
ardent  young  ritualists  and  mystics  who  were  its  apostles.  It 
was  diverted  from  its  noble  and  romantic  purpose  of  founding 
a  primitive  and  perfect  Church  in  a  new  world  and  among 
unsophisticated  Indians.  But  it  was  not  an  utter  failure.  It 
brought  the  missionaries  themselves  priceless  lessons,  which 
they  had  the  grace  and  manliness  to  learn.  It  developed  the 
Moses-like  meekness  which  was  blended  with  strength  in  the 
character  of  the  coming  leader.  It  drew  Whitefield  across  the 
Atlantic  to  preach  a  Gospel  greater  than  his  later  Calvinistic 
creed.  It  did  much  to  mold  the  men  who  were  to  be  the 
founders  of  a  catholic  missionary  Church.  It  gave  to  the 
hymnology  of  the  great  Revival  ' '  the  wafture  of  a  world-wide 
wing."  It  prepared  the  way  for  a  theology  radiant  with  the 
light  of  a  new  spiritual  experience,  and  broad  as  the  charity 
of  God. 


The  New  Birth.  95 


CHAPTER  VII. 

The  New  Birth. 

Whitefield's  Revival  Fire. — Peter  Bohler's  Influence.— Charles  Wesley's 

Happy  Day. — John  Wesley's   Heart   "  Strangely  Warmed." — 

A  Spiritual  Revolution. 


m: 


*HILE  the  Wesleys  were  in  America  their  young  Oxford 
companion,  George  Whitefield,  had  set  the  world  to 
talking.  vSuch  preaching  was  never  heard.  The  parish 
churches  were  crowded  to  the  doors  when  he  was  to  preach,  (jI/AaM^'^-*^^^^^ 
even  on  week  days.  He  preached  thirty  times  a  month,  some-^-jD^^j/^^/,.,^.,.,^ 
times  four  sermons  on  a  Sunday,  and  weeping  hearers  followed 
him  out  into  the  streets  to  get  a  word  with  him.  He  says  of  a 
notable  sermon:  "  The  doctrine  of  the  new  birth  and  justifica- 
tion by  faith  in  Jesus  Christ  (though  I  was  not  so  clear  in  it  as 
afterward)  made  its  way  like  lightning  into  the  hearers' 
consciences." 

All  classes  for  the  first  time  now  heard  from  a  tongue  of  fire 
the  Gospel  of  Christ.  The  mighty  doctrines  of  justification 
and  regeneration  leaped  forth  in  living  power.  Heaven  and 
hell  were  realities  in  awful  contrast.  Of  course  the  people 
were  moved.  They  felt  that  Whitefield  was  one  of  them.  His 
illustrations,  drawn  from  common  life  and  spiced  with  humor, 
deepened  the  popular  interest.  ' '  Even  the  little  improprieties, " 
remarked  Wesley,  "both  of  his  language  and  manner,  were 
the  means  of  profiting  many  who  would  not  have  been  touched 
by  a  more  correct  discourse  or  a  more  calm  and  regular  manner 
of  preaching." 

To  all   must  be  added   the  power  arising  out  of  the  divine 


96  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

transformation  of  the  man  and  the  eloquence  of  the  Spirit. 
The  God  before  whom  he  stood  was  to  him  so  glorious  in 
majesty  that  Whitefield  would  throw  himself  prostrate  on  the 
grround  and  offer  his  soul  as  a  blank  for  the  divine  hand  to  write 
on  it  what  he  pleased.  Mabie  says  that  when  Corot  in  his 
peasant  blouse  went  out  into  the  fields  at  four  o'clock  with  his 
easel  before  him,  and  studied  the  dawn,  '  •  the  day  broke  for 
him  as  if  it  had  never  come  out  of  the  sky  before ;  as  if  he  were 
the  first  man  seeing  the  first  day."  So  to  Whitefield  evervday 
seemed  the  first  day  on  which  God  had  sent  the  Gospel  to  men 
and  commissioned  him  to  put  the  vital  truth  on  the  tablets  of 
the  hearL 

An  urgent  letter  from  John  Wesley  turned  Whitefield's  atten- 
tion to  Georgia.  His  heart  leaped  at  Wesley's  words:  "  What 
if  thou  art  the  man,  Mr.  Whitefi.eld?  Do  you  ask  me  what  you 
shall  have?  Food  to  eat,  and  raiment  to  put  on;  a  house  to  lay 
your  head  in,  such  as  your  Lord  had  not ;  and  a  crown  of  glory 
that  fadeth  not  away."  Whitefield  offered  himself  to  the 
authorities  of  the  Georgian  Mission,  was  accepted,  and  voyag- 
ing westward  his  vessel  passed  that  of  John  Wesley  homeward 
bound.  His  apostolic  joumej'ings  and  splendid  ser\nces  on 
both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  transcend  the  scope  of  this  biography, 
though  we  shall  from  time  to  time  meet  the  flaming  evangelist 
as  we  follow  the  person  and  work  of  the  head  of  the  ^lethodist 
movement. 

For  several  years  after  their  return  from  Georgia  the  Wes- 
leys  were  thrown  much  in  contact  with  certain  Moravians 
whose  creed  kept  alive  the  old  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith. 
Peter  Bohler,  the  ^loravian,  wrote  to  Count  Zinzendorf  at 
Hermhut  of  his  acquaintance  with  them : 

I  traveled  with  the  two  brothers,  John  and  Charles  Weslej-.  from  London 
to  Oxford.  The  elder.  John,  is  a  good-natured  man ;  he  knew  he  did  not 
properly  believe  on  the  Saviour,  and  was  willing  to  be  taught.     His 


The  New  Birth.  97 

brother,  with  whom  you  often  conversed  a  year  ago,  is  at  present  verj- 
much  distressed  in  his  mind,  but  does  not  know  how  he  shall  begin  to  be 
acquainted  with  the  Saviour.  Our  mode  of  belie\nng  in  the  SaN-iour  is  so 
easy  to  Englishmen  that  they  cannot  reconcile  themselves  to  it;  if  it  were 
a  little  more  artful,  they  would  much  sooner  find  their  way  into  it  Of 
faith  in  Jesus  they  have  no  other  idea  than  the  generality  of  people  have. 
They  justify  themselves ;  and  therefore  they  always  take  it  for  granted 
that  they  believe  already,  and  tr>-  to  prove  their  faith  by  their  works,  and 
thus  so  plague  and  torment  themselves  that  they  are  at  heart  verj- 
miserable. 

Bohler  put  himself  under  Charles  Wesley's  care,  at  Oxford, 
to  learn  English.  The  pupil  taught  his  teacher  a  3-et  nobler 
lesson.  When  he  fell  ill  and  seemed  on  the  point  of  death 
Bohler  asked  him,  "Do  you  hoj^e  to  be  saved?"'  Charles 
answered,  '*Yes."  "For  what  reason  do  you  hope  it?" 
"Because  I  have  used  my  best  endeavors  to  serve  God." 
Bohler  shook  his  head  and  said  no  more.  "  I  thought  him 
\ery  uncharitable,"  wrote  Charles  at  a  later  day,  "saying  in 
my  heart,  "Would  he  rob  me  of  my  endeavors?  I  have  nothing 
else  to  trust  to."  The  sad,  silent,  significant  shake  of  Peter 
Bohler's  head  shattered  all  Charles  Wesley's  false  foundation 
of  salvation  by  endeavors. 

On  Sunday,  March  5,  1738,  John  Wesley  wrote:  "I  was,  in 
the  hand  of  the  great  God,  clearly  convinced  of  unbelief,  of  the 
want  of  that  faith  whereby  alone  we  are  saved."  In  later 
years  he  adds,  in  parenthesis,  "  (With  the  full  Christian  salva- 
tion.)" To  the  question  whether  he  should  cease  preaching 
his  friend  replied,  "  By  no  means."  "  But  what  can  I  preach?" 
asked  Wesley.  ' '  Preach  faith  till  you  have  it,  and  then  because 
you  have  it  you  will  preach  faith. "  And  so  on  Monday  morn- 
ing he  offered  salvation  by  faith  to  a  man  under  sentence  of 
death  in  Oxford  Castle. 

He  was  deeply  moved  when  the  condemned  man  he  again 
visited  rose  from  prayer  exclaiming  eagerly,  "  I  am  now 
ready  to  die.  I  know  Christ  has  taken  away  my  sins, 
7 


98 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


and  there  is  no  more  condemnation  for  me."     So  he  died  in 
peace. 

On  the  Sunday  after  this  affecting  scene  Wesley  took  a  step 
of  no  little   importance  in   the  history  of   Methodist  worship. 


Peter  Bohler. 
The  Moravian  who  instructed  the  Wesleys. 

He  writes  in  his  Journal  of  April  i:  "Being-  in  Mr.  Fox's 
society,  my  heart  was  so  full  that  I  could  not  confine  myself  to 
the  forms  of  prayer  which  we  were  accustomed  to  use  there. 
Neither  do   I  propose  to  be  confined  to  them  any  more,  but  to 


The  New  Birth. 


99 


pray  indifferently,  with  a  form  or  without,  as  I  may  find  suit- 
able to  particular  occasions." 

Rigg  has  well  observed  how  strikingly  this  illustrates  the 
main  principle  of  Wesley's  ecclesiastical  course,  of  using  what- 
ever methods  clearly  promised  to  do  the  most  good.  He  enters 
into  no  abstract  controversy  as  to  praying  with  or  without 
forms.  Probably  his  experiences  in  America,  where  he  heard 
the  Presbyterian  minister  pray,  and  yet  more  his  intercourse 
with  the  Moravians,  had  helped  to  loosen  the  bonds  of  servile 
ecclesiasticism  in  this  respect.  He  never  condemned  forms  of 
prayer,  which  would  have  precluded  not  only  the  liturgy,  but 
the  Lord's  Prayer  and  many  hymns,  but  he  found  free  prayer 
rich  in  blessing,  and  henceforth  he  held  himself  at  liberty, 
according  to  occasion,  to  pray  without  forms.  "The  ritualist 
was  already  greatly  changed.  Already  the  manacles  had  dis- 
solved from  the  hands  of  devotion;  soon  the  fetters  would  be 
broken  which  bound  his  feet  from  running  in  the  evangelical 
way." 

On  the  following  Easter  Sunday  morning,  after  thus  com- 
mencing the  use  of  extempore  prayer  in  social  worship,  he 
preached  "in  our  college  chapel"  of  Lincoln,  and  closed  the 
day  with  the  entry,    "  I  see  the  promise;  but  it  is  far  off." 

Again  Bohler  came  to  his  help  by  bringing  together  some 
friends  to  relate  their  experience  in  his  hearing.  As  they  testi- 
fied with  clearness  and  fervor  to  the  joy  of  faith,  John  Wesley 
and  his  companions  were  "as  if  thimderstruck. "  An  old 
Moravian  hymn,  "My  soul  before  thee  prostrate  lies,"  was 
sung. 

John  Wesley  thus  sums  up  the  result  of  his  conversations 
with  Bohler,  the  testimony  of  the  Moravians,  and  the  singing 
of  this  old  hymn:  "  I  was  now  thoroughly  convinced;  and,  by 
the  grace  of  God,  I  resolved  to  seek  it  unto  the  end:  (i)  By 
absolutely  renouncing  all  dependence,  in  whole  or  in  part,  upon 


loo 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


my  own  works  or  righteousness ;  on  which  I  had  really  grounded 
my  hope  of  salvation,  though  I  knew  it  not,  from  my  youth 
up.  (2)  By  adding  to  the  constant  use  of  all  the  other  means 
of  grace  continual  prayer  for  this  very  thing,  justifying,  saving 
faith,  a  full  reliance  on  the  blood  of  Christ  shed  for  me;  a  trust 
in  him  as  my  Christ,  as  my  sole  justification,  sanctification,  and 
redemption." 

Charles  Wesley  was  the  first  of  the  Wesley  brothers  to  receive 
the  name  of  Methodist,  and  he  was  also  the  first  to  experience 


joy  and  peace  through  believing.  "While  John  was  entering 
this  Bethesda  pool  Charles  stepped  in  before  him.  One  Mr. 
Bray,  a  brazier,  of  London,  a  poor  ignorant  mechanic,  who 
knows  nothing  but  Christ,  yet  by  knowing  him  knows  and 
discerns  all  things,"  finds  him  sick  and  spiritually  perplexed, 
and  invites  him  to  lodge  with  him  in  Little  Britain,  that  he 
may  help  him  to  spiritual  health.  Here  the  sick  man  foimd 
Luther's  Commentary  on  Galatians,  and  was  greatly  edified  by 
its  views  of  the  work  of  faith.  He  spent  much  time  in  reading, 
meditation,  converse,  and  prayer,  and  on  Whitsunday,  in  1738, 


The  New  Birth.  ioi 

he  found  peace.  A  poor  woman,  the  brazier's  sister,  herself  a 
recent  convert,  had  been  moved  to  address  him  with  the  words: 
"In  the  name  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  arise,  and  believe, 
and  thou  shalt  be  healed  of  all  thy  infirmities. "  She  spoke 
the  words  tremblingly,  and  fled.  Bray  reads,  "  Blessed  is  the 
man  whose  transgression  is  forgiven,  whose  sin  is  covered,"  and 
the  hearer,  laying  hold  on  the  atonement  by  simple  faith,  finds 
himself  at  peace  with  God.  Opening  his  Bible,  his  eye  falls 
on  the  words,  "and  now,  Lord,  what  is  my  hope?  Truly  my 
hope  is  even  in  thee.  He  hath  piit  a  new  song  in  my  mouth, 
even  a  thanksgiving  unto  our  God;  many  shall  see  it  and  fear, 
and  shall  put  their  trust  in  the  Lord."  Thus  Charles  Wesley 
learned  the  new  song  of  the  great  revival,  and  found  his  life- 
long inspiration. 

On  the  following  Tuesday  he  began  the  hymn  which  links 
his  conversion  with  that  of  his  brother: 

Where  shall  niy  wondering  soul  begin? 

How  shall  I  all  to  heaven  aspire? 
A  slave  redeemed  from  death  and  sin, 

A  brand  plucked  from  eternal  fire, 
How  shall  I  equal  triumphs  raise, 
Or  sing  my  great  Deliverer's  praise? 

On  that  Whitsunday  which  brought  joy  to  Charles  Wesley's 
soul  his  brother  John  attended  the  Church  of  vSt.  Mary-le- 
Strand.  He  was  still  grieving  because  'he  had  not  the  assur- 
ance of  acceptance.  "Let  no  one  deceive  us  by  vain  words," 
he  wrote  to  a  friend,  "as  if  we  had  already  attained  this  faith. 
By  its  fruits  we  shall  know.  Do  we  already  feel  peace  with 
God  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost?  Does  his  vSpirit  bear  witness 
with  our  spirit  that  we  are  the  children  of  God?  Alas!  with 
mine  he  does  not.  O,  thou  Saviour  of  men,  save  us  from 
trusting  in  anything  but  thee !  Draw  us  after  thee.  Let  us 
be  emptied  of  ourselves,  and  then  fill  us  with  all  peace  and 


^-pO-i^^A^^'p^C-^ 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


r.  n 


joy  in  believing,  and  let  nothing  separate  ns  from  thy  love  in 
time  or  eternity." 

His  prayer  was  heard.      On  Wednesday,    May  24,  at  five  in 
the  morning,  he  opened  his  Testament  to  these  words:  "There 


0<77/t-.t,.€/t-<l-cir^      ^^"®  given  unto  us  exceeding  great  and  precious  promises,  that 
by  these  ye  might  be  partakers  of  the  divine  nature."     As  he 


-^  / ,  -^ 


Nettleton  Court,  off  Aldersgate  Street. 

The  scene  of  John  Wesley's  religious  crisis. 

was  about  to  leave  the  house  he  came  upon  the  words,    "  Thou 
art  not  far  from  the  kingdom  of  God. " 

In  the  evening  he  reluctantly  attended  a  little  meeting  in 
Nettleton  Court,  on  the  east  side  of  Aldersgate  Street,  where  a 
few  pious  souls  met  in  a  society  for  prayer  and  Bible  study. 
Some  one  was  reading  Luther's  preface  to  the  Epistle  to  the 
Rorrians  descriptive  of  saving  faith. 

About  a  quarter  before  nine,  while  he  was  describing  the  change  which 
God  works  in  the  heart  through  faith  in  Christ,  I  felt  my  heart  strangely 
warmed.  I  felt  I  did  trust  in  Christ,  Christ  alone,  for  salvation ;  and  an 
assurance  was  given  me  that  he  had  taken  away  my  sins,  even  mine,  and 
saved  me  from  the  law  of  sin  and  death.  I  began  to  pray  with  all  my 
might  for  those  who  had  in  a  more  especial  manner  despitefully  used  me 
and  persecuted  me.  I  then  testified  openly  to  all  there  what  I  now  first 
felt  in  my  heari. 


The  New  Birth.  103 

The  brazier's  house  was  but  a  few  steps  away,  and  John  Wes- 
ley hastened  thither  to  hail  his  brother  with  the  rapturous 
words,  "  I  believe,"  and  to  join  him  in  singing  the  new  hymn, 

Where  shall  my  wondering  soul  begin  ? 

His  conversion  revolutionized  the  whole  character  and 
method  of  his  ministry.  The  great  evangelical  doctrines  had 
been  obscured  by  his  sacerdotalism.  His  moral  teaching,  lofty 
as  it  was,  had  lacked  the  inspiration  of  the  mightiest  motive — 
the  personal  consciousness  of  God's  love  to  man  and  the  burn- 
ing love  to  God  created  by  the  witness  of  the  Spirit.  The  faith 
of  a  servant  was  transformed  into  the  faith  of  a  son,  and  from 
this  hour,  as  Dr.  Rigg  observes,  "this  ritualistic  priest  and 
ecclesiastical  martinet  was  to  be  transformed  into  a  flaming 
preacher  of  the  great  evangelical  salvation  and  life  in  all  its 
branches,  and  its  rich  and  varied  experiences.  Hence  arose 
Wesleyan  Methodism  and  all  the  Methodist  Churches. "  The 
younger  Methodist,  Rev.  Hugh  Price  Hughes,  expressed  the 
same  conviction  as  to  the  historical  importance  of  this  event : 
"The  Rubicon  was  crossed.  The  sweeping  aside  of  ecclesi- 
astical traditions,  the  rejection  of  the  apostolical  succession, 
the  ordination  with  his  own  hands  of  presbyters  and  bishop.s, 
the  final  organization  of  a  separate  and  fully  equipped  Church, 
were  all  logically  involved  in  what  took  place  that  night. " 

Oxford  Methodism,  as  Fletcher's  latest  biographer,  F.  W. 
Macdonald,  has  observed,  "with  its  almost  monastic  rigors,  its 
living  by  rule,  its  canonical  hours  of  prayer,  is  a  fair  and  noble 
phase  of  the  many-sided  life  of  the  Church  of  England,  and 
with  all  its  defects  and  limitations  claims  our  deep  respect. 
But  it  was  not  the  instrument  by  which  the  Church  and  nation 
were  to  be  revived;  it  had  no  message  for  the  world,  no  secret 
of  power  with  which  to  move  and  quicken  the  masses.  To  do 
this  it  must  become  other  than  it  was.      It  must  die  in  order  tf) 


I04 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


bring-  forth  much  fruit.  And  this  death  and  rising  were 
accomplished  in  the  spiritual  change  wrought  in  John  Wesley, 
the  leader  of  the  earlier  and  the  later  Methodism."  The  place 
of  this  spiritual  event  in  the  history  of  the  English  nation  has 
been  well  stated  by  the  historian  Lecky:  "It  is  scarcely  an 
exaggeration  to  say  that  the  scene  which  took  place  at  that 
humble  meeting  in  Aldersgate  Street  forms  an  epoch  in  English 
history.  The  conviction  which  then  flashed  upon  one  of  the 
most  powerful  and  most  active  intellects  in  England  is  the  true 
source  of  English  Methodism." 

From  the  year  of  his  conversion  Wesley's  sacerdotalism 
withered  away.  He  did  not,  as  an  Anglican  has  observed, 
abate  his  attachment  to  the  ordinances  of  the  Established' 
Church,  and  he  did  not  at  once  reach  that  degree  of  inde- 
pendence of  her  hierarchy  and  some  of  her  rules  which  marks 
his  farthest  point  of  divergence.  Dr.  Rigg  has  forcibly  said, 
"Habits  of  thought  and  feeling  which  had  become  a  second 
nature  still  clave  to  him  for  a  while;  but  these  dropped  off  one 
by  one  until  scarcely  a  vestige  of  them  was  left."  The  grave- 
clothes  of  ritualistic  superstition  hung  about  him  even  after  he 
had  come  forth  from  the  sepulcher  and  had  in  his  heart  and 
soul  been  set  loose  and  free,  and  he  only  cast  them  off  gradu- 
ally, but  the  new  principle  that  he  had  embraced  led  before 
long  to  his  complete  emancipation  from  the  principles  and 
prejudices  of  High  Church  ecclesiasticism.  The  ultimate 
separation  of  the  Methodist  societies  from  the  Anglican  Church, 
Dr.  Rigg  says,  was  also  involved  in  this  change:  "  Newman | 
renounced  justification  by  faith,  and  clung  to  apostolic  succes-j 
sion;  therefore  he  went-to  Rome.  Wesley  embraced  justifica-l 
tion  by  faith,  and  renounced  apostolical  succession ;  therefore 
his  people  are  a  separate  people  from  the  Church  of  England. '} 


Revival  Preaching.  105 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Revival  Preaching, 

"Jesus,  the  Sinner's  Friend,  Proclaim."— "  By  Grace  are  Ye  Saved." — A 

Happy  New  Year. — Whitefield  Calls  Wesley  Out  of  Doors. — 

Shouts  in  the   Camp.— The   Old  Room  at  Bristol. — 

The  Foundry  for  Gospel  Artillery. — Wesley's 

Chapel  in  City  Road. — Wesley's  House. 


I 


N  that  first  burst  of  song-  which  came  to  Charles  Wesley's 
lips  at  his  conversion  were  these  pregnant  lines : 

O  how  shall  I  the  goodness  tell. 

Father,  which  thou  to  me  hast  showed.? 

That  I,  a  child  of  wrath  and  hell, 
I  should  be  called  a  child  of  God ! 

Should  know,  should  feel  my  sins  forgiven. 

Blessed  with  this  antepast  of  heaven  ! 

And  shall  I  slight  my  Father's  love 

Or  basely  fear  his  gifts  to  own? 
Unmindful  of  his  favors  prove? 

Shall  I,  the  hallowed  cross  to  shun, 
Refuse  his  righteousness  to  impart, 
By  hiding  it  within  my  heart? 

No:  though  the  ancient  dragon  rage, 

And  call  forth  all  his  hosts  to  war ; 
Though  earth's  self-righteous  sons  engage 

Them  and  their  god  alike  I  dare ; 
Jesus,  the  sinner's  Friend,  proclaim; 
Jesus,  to  sinners  still  the  same. 

John  Wesley  was  not  iDchind  his  brother  in  his  purpose  to 
proclaim  salvation,  and  his  tremendous  energy,  inspired  indus- 
try, and  genius  for  administration  soon  organized  a  corps  of 
helpers  to  assist  in  declaring  abroad  the  word  of  life.  As  he  has 
strikingly  summarized  this  phase  of  the  movement:   "  Just  at 


io6 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


this  time  (1738  9),  when  we  [the  nation]  wanted  little  of  filling 
lip  the  measure  of  our  iniquities,  two  or  three  clergymen  of  the 
Church  of  England  began  vehemently  to  call  sinners  to  repent- 
ance. In  two  or  three  years  they  had  sounded  the  alarm  to 
the  utmost  borders  of  the  land.  Many  thousands  gathered 
together  to  hear  them,  and  in  every  place  where  they  came 
many  began  to  show  such  a  concern  for  religion  as  they  had 
never  done  before." 

On  the  nth  of  June,  1738,  eighteen  days  after  his  conver- 


View  of  Herrnhut. 

To  which  Wesley  resorted  for  spiritual  instruction,  1738. 

sion,  John  Wesley  pi-eached  his  famous  sermon  before  the 
University  of  Oxford  on  "  By  grace  are  ye  saved  through 
faith  " — the  keynote  of  his  entire  ministry.  That  sermon  is 
the  first  of  those  which  form  the  standard  of  Methodist  belief. 
That  great  doctrine  he  now  began  to  preach  with  experimental 
fervor.  His  conviction  of  its  importance  was  deepened  by  his 
visit  to  Herrnhut,  in  Bohemia  (July-September,  1738),  where 
he  studied  with  enthusiasm  and  sympathy  the  beliefs  and  prac- 
tices of  the  pious  Moravians.  On  the  way  he  spent  a  fortnight 
at  Marienborn  in  company  with  Count  Zinzendorf,  the  chief 
man  of  the  Moravian  brotherhood.     The  day  after  his  return 


Revival  Preaching. 


107 


to  London  he  began,  to  use  his  own  words,  "to  declare  in  my 
own  country  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation,  preaching  three 
times  and  afterward  expounding  the  Scripture  to  a  large  com- 
pany in  the  Minories, "  one  of  the  localities  in  which  his  brother 
had  been  zealously  preaching  and  working.  Here  a  woman 
"cried  out  as  in  the  agonies  of  death,"  so  poignant  was  her 
conviction  of  sin. 

On  New  Year's  eve,  1738-9,  seven  of  the  Oxford  Methodists 
and  some  sixty  others  held  a  watch-night  service  and  love  feast 
in  a  religious  society  whose  rooms  were  in  Fetter  Lane,  Lon- 
don. The  seven  were  ministers  of  the  Church  of  England. 
Wesley  writes  of  the  ushering  in  of  this  most  notable  year  in 
Methodist  annals: 

"About  three  in  the  morning,  as  we  were  continuing  instant 
in  prayer,  the  power  of  God  came  mightily  upon  us,  insomuch 
that  many  cried  out  for  exceeding  joy,  and  many  fell  to  the 


-^-^^ 


ground.     As  soon  as  we  were 

recovered    a    little    from    that 

awe    and    amazement    at    the 

presence    of    his    majesty   we 

broke     out    wath     one    voice, 

'  We  praise  thee,    O  God,   we 

acknowledge    thee    to   be    the 

Lord.'  "  Whitefield pronounced 

this  to  be  "  the  happiest  New 

Year's  Day  he  had  ever  seen." 

Tyerman  well  regards  it  as  a 

glorious    preparation    for    the 

herculean      work      on      which 

Whitefield    and    the    Wesleys 

were  entering.     Three  days  afterward  the  seven  clergymen  met 

again.     Whitefield  says:   "  What  we  were  in  doubt  about,  after 

prayer,  we  determined  by  lot,  and  everything  else"  was  carried 


Plan  of  Holborn. 

Fetter  Lane,  connecting'  Holborn  and 
Fleet  Street,  is  entered  close  by  the 
old  Staple's  Inn,  still  standing,  "as  in 
Wesley's  day.  Here  was  the  room  in 
which' the  inemorable  love  feast  was 
held  on  New  Year's  Day,  1739,  and  here 
also  was  the  old  chapel  which  the  Mora- 
vians secured  in  1740. 


io8 


John  Wesley   the  Methodist. 


on  with  great  love,  meekness,  and  devotion.  We  continued  in 
fasting  and  prayer  till  three  o'clock,  and  then  parted,  with  a 
full  conviction  that  God  was  going  to  do  great  things  among 
us." 

It  was  Whitefield  who  began  to  preach  in  the  open  air,  and 
he  did  so  at  first  because  the  churches  would  not  hold  the  mul- 
titudes who  came  to  listen.     At  Kingswood,  beside  Bristol,  on 


Hannam  Mount,  Kingswood. 
A  favorite  field-pulpit  of  Wesley  and  Whitefield. 

Saturday,  February  17,  1739,  before  a  congregation  of  two 
hundred  colliers,  he  first  defied  ecclesiastical  rules  or  fashions 
by  preaching  in  the  open  air. 

"  I  thought,"  says  he,  "it  might  be  doing  the  service  of  my 
Creator,  who  had  a  mountain  for  his  pulpit  and  the  heavens 
for  a  sounding  board;  and  who,  when  his  Gospel  was  refused 
by  the  Jews,  sent  his  servants  into  the  highways  and  hedges." 

Wesley,  who  came  to  his  aid  at  Bristol,  shrank  from  the 
practice,  but  bethought  himself  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount 


Revival  Preaching.  109 

as  "one  pretty  remarkable  precedent  of  field  preaching-,"  and 
soon  "submitted  to  be  more  vile,"  preaching  to  a  crowd  of 
four  thousand  from  a  hillock  near  the  city  from  the  words: 
"The  spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me,  because  he  hath  anointed 
me  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  poor."  Charles  Wesley  had  the 
same  stiff  churchly  notions  to  break  down,  but  he  was  soon  in 
the  fields  with  the  others.  Thus  all  three  evangelists  were  com- 
mitted to  a  work  which  did  more  than  anything  else  to  arouse 
the  slumbering  people  and  churches  of  England. 

The  philosophic  critic  of  Methodism,  Isaac  Taylor,  has  truly 
said:  "  The  men  who  commenced  and  achieved  this  arduous 
service,  and  they  were  scholars  and  gentlemen,  displayed  a 
courage  far  surpassing  that  which  carries  the  soldier  through 
the  hailstorm  of  the  battlefield.  Ten  thousand  might  more 
easily  be  found  who  would  confront  a  battery  than  two  who, 
with  the  sensitiveness  of  education  about  them,  could  mount  a 
table  by  the  roadside,  give  out  a  psalm,  and  gather  a  mob." 

While  Wesley  remained  at  Bristol  the  famous  Methodist 
school  at  Kingswood,  for  the  education  of  the  colliers'  children, 
began  to  rise.  It  was  Whitefield  who  initiated  it,  but  Wesley 
who  gave  it  substance  and  form  and  directed  its  beneficent 
career.  Under  his  preaching  at  Bristol  also  broke  out  the 
strange  cries  and  shouts,  accompanied  by  singular  physical 
manifestations  such  as  marked  the  Great  Awakening  in  New 
England.  Cries  of  the  sharpest  anguish  were  heard.  Hard- 
ened sinners  were  stricken  down  as  in  the  throes  of  death.  A 
Quaker  w^ho  was  angry  at  what  he  thought  to  be  the  affected 
groans  and  cries  in  Baldwin  Street  room  was  knitting  his  brows 
and  biting  his  lips  in  displeasure  when  he  was  struck  down  in 
a  moment,  as  by  an  imseen  hand,  and  recovering  after  prayer, 
cried  out,  "  Now  I  know  thou  art  a  prophet  of  the  Lord!  " 

Bold  blasphemers  cried  aloud  for  mercy;  passing  travelers, 
pausing  to  hear,  were   smitten  to  the  earth  in  deep  conviction 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


Scenes  about  Old  Kingswood. 

Wesley's  oriel  window.  The  gardens  behind  the  school.  Wesley's  walk. 

Old  Kingswood,  main  building. 


Revival  Preaching.  in 

for  sin.  An  irritated  mother,  vexed  by  the  weeping  of  her 
daughter,  became  herself  convulsed  with  sorrow  and  went 
home  in  joy.  A  physician,  who  thought  that  mere  excitement 
or  even  fraud  had  most  to  do  with  these  scenes,  was  present  at 
one  meeting  and  watched  with  keen  eyes  one  woman  whom  he 
had  known  for  years.  She  broke  out  into  "  strong  cries  and 
tears."  Great  drops  of  perspiration  ran  down  her  face,  and  her 
body  shook.  He  was  convinced  that  in  this  case  at  least  there 
was  no  imposition  nor  mere  natural  disorder,  and  when,  in  a 
moment,  both  body  and  soul  were  healed  he  acknowledged 
"the  finger  of  God." 

It  must,  in  justice  to  Wesley,  be  said  that  such  phenomena 
were  never  encouraged  by  him,  but  every  effort  was  made  to 
control  them.  There  is  no  doubt  that  there  were  some  cases 
of  imposture.  Charles  Wesley  said:  "Many,  no  doubt,  were 
at  our  first  preaching  struck  down,  both  body  and  soul,  into 
the  depth  of  distress.  Their  outward  affections  were  easy  to 
be  imitated."  Where  he  suspected  affectation  he  ordered  the 
persons  to  be  carried  away.  At  Newcastle  he  declared  he 
thought  no  better  of  anyone  for  crying  out  or  interrupting  his 
work,  and  successfully  secured  quietness.  He  sometimes  re- 
garded "the  fits  "  as  a  device  of  Satan  to  stop  the  work. 

But  when  every  allowance  was  made  for  such  cases  the  evan- 
gelists themselves  had  good  reason  to  believe  that  the  large 
majority  were  the  result  of  real  and  intense  conviction  for  sin. 
"  From  the  days  of  John  the  Baptist  till  now,"  observes  Mrs. 
Oliphant,  "  such  incidents  have  made  themselves  visible  wher- 
ever a  new  voice  like  that  of  him  in  the  wilderness  has  come, 
rousing  the  world  into  a  revival  of  religious  life."  One  of 
Wesley's  most  recent  biographers  in  the  Anglican  Church, 
Miss  Wedgwood,  is  convinced  "that  there  was  something  in 
the  personal  influence  of  Wesley  (for  it  certainly  does  not 
remain  in  his  sermons)  which  had  the  power  of  impressing  on 


112  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

a  dull  and  lethargic  world  such  a  horror  of  evil,  its  mj^sterious 
closeness  to  the  human  soul,  and  the  need  of  a  miracle  for  the 
separation  of  the  two,  as  no  one  perhaps  could  suddenly  re- 
ceive without  some  violent  physical  effect. " 


The  "Old  Room  in  the  Horsefair,"  the  First   House  Built  for  Methodist 
Preaching. 

The  room  above  the  chapel  where  the  first  "class"  met. 
Interior  of  the  preaching  room. 

On  May  12,  1739,  the  foundation  stone  of  the  first  Methodist 
•'preaching  room  "  in  the  world  was  laid.  It  was  the  building 
known  to  Wesley  in  after  years  as  "the  old  room  in  the  Horse- 
fair,"     The  eleven  trustees  whom  Wesley  appointed  did  ver}^ 


Revival  Preaching.  113 

little  to  raise  the  necessary  funds,  and  Wesley  took  upon  him- 
self the  payment  of  the  buildei".  Whitefield  urged  Wesley  to 
get  rid  of  the  trustees,  on  the  ground  that  they  would  have 
power  under  the  deed  to  turn  him  out  if  he  displeased  them  by 
his  preaching.  Wesley  took  this  advice,  canceled  the  deed, 
and  became  the  sole  proprietor.  Tliis,  though  insignificant  at 
the  time,  was  a  matter  of  great  importance,  for  in  this  manner 
nearly  all  the  chapels  built  in  the  early  years  of  his  career  were 
vested  in  himself.  This  involved  serious  responsibility,  which 
however,  was  honorably  fulfilled;  for  trusts  were  afterward 
created,  and  by  his  "  Deed  of  Declaration  "  all  his  interests  in 
his  chapels  were  transferred  to  his  incorporated  Conference. 

Three  weeks  after  the  first  stone  was  laid  Wesley  wrote : 
"  Not  being  permitted  to  meet  in  Baldwin  Street,  we  met  in 
the  shell  of  our  new  society  room.  The  Scripture  which  came 
in  course  to  be  explained  was,  '  Marvel  not  if  the  world  hate 
you.'     We  sung: 

Arm  of  the  Lord,  awake,  awake  ! 
Thine  own  immortal  strength  put  on  i 

and  God,  even  our  own  God,  gave  us  his  blessing."  Here  the 
first  class  meeting  was  held.  Here,  in  Wesley's  lifetime,  eigh- 
teen Conferences  assembled.  From  the  old  pulpit,  moved 
from  its  former  place,  but  otherwise  unchanged,  John  Wesley 
in  1739  expounded  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  the  "inalienable 
charter  "  of  the  Churches  of  God.  It  was  also  Charles  Wesley's 
pulpit,  in  which  he  preached  for  many  years.  And  many 
others,  men  of  renown,  who  turned  the  old  godless  world  of 
those  days  upside  down,  preached  in  that  pulpit,  and  lodged  in 
the  little  rooms  above,  like  ships'  cabins.  Whitefield  com- 
plained to  Wesley  that  the  room  was  too  richly  ornamented. 
Wesley  replied:  "The  society  room  at  Bristol,  you  say,  is 
adorned.  How  ?  Why,  with  a  piece  of  green  cloth  nailed  to  the 
desk,  and  two  sconces,  for  eight  candles  each,  in  the  middle.      I 


114 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


know  no  more.  Now,  which  of  these  can  be  spared  ?  I  know 
not ;  nor  would  I  desire  more  adornment,  or  less.  But  '  lodgings 
are  made  for  me  and  my  brother.'  This  is,  in  plain  English, 
there  is  a  little  room  by  the  school  where  I  speak  to  the  per- 
sons who  come  to  me,  and  a  garret  in  which  a  bed  is  placed 
for  me." 

In  London,  whither  he  went  in  June,  Mr.  Wesley  preached  to 


The  Foundry  Chapel,  Moorfields,  London. 
The  old  artillery  foundry,  as  remodeled  for  use  as  a  Wesleyan  chapel. 


vast  crowds  in  the  fields  near  the  site  of  the  old  Foundry  and 
the  later  chapel  in  City  Road,  the  most  celebrated  preaching- 
house  of  world-wide  Methodism. 

The  winter  of  1739  was  unusually  severe,  and  in  the  prospect 
of  being  unable  to  preach  out  of  doors,  and  with  most  of  the 
churches  closed  against  him,  Wesley,  by  the  advice  and  with 
the  help  of  two  gentlemen  until  then  unknown  to  him,  leased 
the  Foundry  for  ^115,  and  afterward  restored  and  almost 
rebuilt  the  whole,  at  a  cost  of  ^800,  to  fit  it  for  his  purposes. 
This  was  the  arsenal  which  had  been  wrecked  by  an  explosion 


Revival  Preaching. 


"5 


when  the  Methodist  preacher  was  a  lad  at  the  Charterhouse 
School. 

Its  preaching  room  would  seat  fifteen  hundred  people.  The 
band  room  behind  seated  three  hundred.  One  end  of  the 
chapel  was  fitted  up  for  a  schoolroom;  the  opposite  end  was 
the  "book  room,"  and  the  Collection  of  Psalms  and  Hymns 
published  in  1741  bore  the  imprint,  "Sold  at  the  Foundry, 
Upper    Moorfields. "      Above   the    band   room   were   Wesley's 


Vicinity  of  City  Road  and  Foundry  in  Eighteenth  Century. 

apartments,  whither  he  brought  his  mother,  to  spend  her 
declining  days. 

Wesley's  first  service  was  held  at  the  Foundry  on  Sunday, 
November  II,  1739.  Rewrote:  "I  preached  at  eight  o'clock 
to  five  or  six  thousand,  on  the  Spirit  of  Bondage  and  the  Spirit 
of  Adoption,  and  at  five  in  the  evening  in  the  place  which  had 
been  the  king's  foundry  for  cannon.  O  hasten  Thou  the  time 
when  nation  shall  not  rise  up  against  nation,  neither  shall  they 
learn  war  any  more !  " 

For  thirty-eight  years  the  Foundry  was  the  headquarters  of 


ii6  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

Methodism,  and  the  center  of  many  philanthropic  agencies, 
including  the  charity  school,  a  dispensary,  almshouse  for  nine 
poor  widows,  and  a  loan  society.  "On  dark  winter  nights, 
over  roads  without  pavements,  and  unlighted  by  gas  or  lamps 
of  any  kind  save  the  flickering  lantern  of  the  serious  and  ear- 
nest worshipers,  might  be  seen  those  devout  men  and  women 
almost  groping  their  way  to  the  daily  services  at  the  first 
Methodist  chapel,  led  by  the  tinkling  of  the  Foundry  bell." 

The  building  was  often  so  overcrowded  that  preacher  and 
people  left  it  for  the  open  fields,  and  the  crazy  structure  was 
costly  to  repair.  In  1775  Wesley  obtained  from  the  city  au- 
thorities a  piece  of  land  two  hundred  yards  away  from  this  old 
building,  and  on  a  stormy  April  day  in  1777  he  laid  the  foun- 
dation stone  of  the  "new  chapel  "  in  City  Road.  On  Novem- 
ber I,  1778,  the  chapel  was  opened.  It  was  the  first  Methodist 
chapel  built  in  Loudon,  and  was  unequaled  throughout  the 
connection.  To  a  preacher  who  compared  one  of  the  Hull 
chapels  with  it  Wesley  replied,  "If  it  be  at  all  equal  to  the 
new  chapel  in  London  I  will  engage  to  eat  it."  Two  years 
after  its  completion  Wesley  was  awakened  one  night  by  an 
alarm  of  fire.  The  building  stood  in  the  course  of  the  flames, 
but  while  the  family  were  at  prayer  the  wind  shifted  and 
saved  the  structure.  The  glory  of  the  "  latter  house  "  was  as 
great  as  that  of  the  former,  and  many  memorable  services  were 
held  within  its  walls,  notably  that  of  17  85,  the  first  London  ordina- 
tion service,  when  three  laymen  were  solemnly  set  apart  "to 
administer  the  sacraments  and  feed  the  Church  of  God."  In 
1 791  ten  thousand  persons  filed  through  the  house  to  look  on 
the  calm  face  of  John  Wesley  as  he  lay  coffined  for  burial  in 
the  adjoining  graveyard. 

The  chapel  in  Cit}'  Road,  now  known  as  Wesley's  Chapel, 
has  been  many  times  renovated,  but  the  shell  of  the  building, 
the  galleries  and  beams,  the  communion  table  and  rail  are  all 


Revival  Preaching. 


1  17 


■Wesley's  Chapel,  City  Road,  London. 

As  it  originally  appeared  in  1778.  AVhere  the  Ecumenical  Conference  met,  1881. 

City  Road  Chapel,  1901. 

of  Wesley's  time.  Many  mementos  of  the  Wesleys  and 
Fletcher  are  preserved  in  it,  and  it  is  the  most  interesting  local- 
ity in  London  to  all  lovers  of  Methodist  history.  Twice,  in 
1 88 1  and  1901,  the  Ecumenical  Conference  has  brought  together 


ii8 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


within  its  hallowed  walls  the  spiritual  children  of  John  Wesley 
from  every  quarter  of  the  world.  In  1902  its  memorial  window 
to  Bishop  Simpson,  the  gift  of  American  Methodists,  was  un- 
veiled, with  appropriate  ceremony,  to  which  the  presence  and 
participation  of  the  Ambassador  of  the  United  States  gave 
especial  dignity. 

Wesley's  dwelling  house  still  stands  substantially  unaltered 
on  the  south  side  of  the  open  space  in  the  front  of  the  chapel. 


Interior  of  City  Road  Chapel. 

At  the  time  of  the  Ecumenical  Conference  of  igoi. 


He  occupied  the  three  rooms  on  the  ground  floor,  and  was  head 
of  the  household  of  London  preachers  who  dwelt  above,  as  a 
significant  entry  in  his  Journal  .shows,  December  9,  1787:  "I 
went  down  at  half  an  hour  past  five,  but  found  no  preacher 
in  the  chapel,  though  we  had  three  or  four  in  the  house. 
[From  the  minutes  of  the  Conference  we  may  infer  that  these 
were  Dr.  Coke,  Mr.  Creighton,  Samuel  Bradburn,  and  John 
Atlay.  ]  So  I  preached  myself.  Afterwards,  inquiring  why 
none  of  my  family  attended  the  morning  preaching,  they  said 
it  was  because  they  sat  up  too  late.      I  .   .   .   therefore  ordered 


Revival  Preaching. 


119 


that  (i)  everyone  under  my  roof  should  go  to  bed  at  nine,  that 
(2)  everyone  might  attend  the  morning  preaching." 

Hither  came  Dr.  Coke  to  discuss  Wesley's  momentous  pro- 
posal of   ordination — although   the  ordination  took  place  later 


Wesley's  House,  City  Road,  London. 

in  a  private  house  at  Bristol.  Hither,  also,  often  came  Charles 
Wesley  on  his  little  horse,  gray  with  age,  to  write  and  sing 
many  of  his  hymns  to  the  delighted  household.  And  hither, 
too,  came  John  Howard,  the  philanthropist,  to  spend  an  hour 
with  John  Wesley  in  memorable  converse.     And  in  the  front 


I20  J(iHN  Weslp:y  the  Methodist. 

room  the  founder  of  Methodism  died.  Can  we  wonder  that  the 
plain  old  dwelling  is  visited  by  troops  of  Methodists,  who 
rejoice  that  in  1898  it  was  endowed  as  a  permanent  memorial 
of  Wesley  and  a  house  for  ' '  Christian  workers  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  spiritual  and  aggressive  work  connected  with  Wes- 
ley's Chapel "  ? 


vSoClETY    AND    ClASS. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Society  and  Class. 

No    Solitary    Religion. — The   First    Society. — A   Layman's   Notion. — An 

Unspeakably  Useful  Institution. — The  General  Rules. — Quarterly 

Tickets. — Mother  and  Son. — "Jack  May  Excommunicate  the 

Church." — Braving  the  Bishops. — "  I  Look  upon  All  the 

World  as  My  Parish." — Preaching  from  His  Father's 

Gravestone. — Death  of  Susanna  Wesley. 

^ly^ESLEY  never  forgot  the  words  of  the  "  serious  man  " 
■  I    I       who  told  him  that  if  he  would  serve  God   and  reach 

heaven  he  must  find  companions  or  make  them,  say-  ^'Saj^j^^,^  tfiJhjU 
ing,  "  The  Bible  knows  nothing  of  solitary  religion. "     He  had  ^^^t-y-^^^  U 

seen  the  usefulness  of  the  "societies"  which  had  once  existed  ,     -^ >    "* 

in  the  Church  of  England,  and  he  had  profited  by  the  fellow- 
ship meetings  of  the  Moravians.  In  April,  1739,  and  a  little 
later  in  London,  he  mentions  fellowship  meetings  among  the 
newly  won  converts.  He  took  the  names  of  the  three  women 
at  Bristol  who  "  agreed  to  meet  together  weekly,"  and  also  the  ©"'-'^^ 
names  of  the  four  men  who  agreed  to  do  the  same.  "  If  this  ^^'^-^^'^^''^  (vvv-*"-^ 
work  be  not  of  God,  let  it  come  to  naught.  If  it  be,  who  can 
hinder  it  ?  "  He  dates,  however,  the  actual  commencement  of 
organized  Wesleyan  Methodism  a  few  months  later  in  the  same 
memorable  year  of  "First  things."  His  account  was  first  pub- 
lished in  1743  as  preface  to  that  most  important  of  early  Meth- 
odist documents.  The  Nature,  Design,  and  General  Rules  of 
the  United  Societies,  in  London,  Bristol,  Kingswood,  and 
Newcastle- tipon-Tyne : 

"  In  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1739  eight  or  ten  persons,  who 
appeared  to  be  deeply  convinced  of  sin  and  earnestly  groaning 


122"  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

for  redemption,  came  to  Mr.  Wesley  in  London.  They  desired, 
as  did  two  or  three  more  the  next  day,  that  he  would  spend 
some  time  with  them  in  prayer  and  advise  them  how  to  flee 
from  the  wrath  to  come,  which  they  saw  continually  hanging- 
over  their  heads.  •  That  he  might  have  more  time  for  this  great 
work  he  appointed  a  day  when  they  might  all  come  together; 
which  from  thenceforward  they  did  every  week,  namely,  on 
Thursday,  in  the  evening.  To  these  and  as  many  more  as 
desired  to  join  with  them  (for  their  number  increased  daily)  he 
gave  those  advices  from  titne  to  time  which  he  judged  most 
needful  for  them;  and  they  always  concluded  their  meeting 
with  prayer  suited  to  their  several  necessities.  This  was  the 
rise  of  the  United  Society,  first  in  London,  and  then  in  other 
places." 

Wesley  took  down  their  names  and  places  of  abode  in  order 
to  call  upon  them  at  their  homes.  He  was  moving  in  the  same 
path  as  the  apostles.  "  In  the  earliest  times,"  says  he,  "  those 
whom  God  had  sent  forth  preached  the  Gospel  to  every  crea- 
ture. And  the  body  of  hearers  were  mostly  Jews  or  heathens. 
But  as  soon  as  any  of  these  were  so  convinced  of  the  truth  as 
to  forsake  sin  and  seek  the  Gospel  salvation  they  immediately 
joined  them  together,  took  an  account  of  their  names,  advised 
them  to  w-atch  over  each  other,  and  met  these  catechumens  (as 
they  w^ere  then  called)  apart  from  the  great  congregation,  that 
they  might  instruct,  rebuke,  exhort,  and  pray  with  them,  and 
for  them,  according  to  their  several  necessities. " 

"Thus  arose,  without  any  previous  design  on  either  side, 
whatw^as  afterward  called  a  society;  a  very  innocent  name,  and 
very  common  in  London  for  any  number  of  people  associating 
themselves  together." 

When  this  society  at  the  Foundry  was  beg-un — the  first  soci- 
ety under  the  direct  control  of  Wesley — the  society  in  Fetter 
Lane  was  still  attended  by  the  Methodist  converts,  but  they 


Society   and  Class. 


123 


seceded  from  it  on  account  of  internal  dissensions  on  July  20, 
1740.  About  seventy-two  of  the  members  adhered  to  them, 
joining  the  new  society  at  the  Foundry. 

Wesley  describes  the  next  step  in  the  organization  of  Meth- 
odism with  characteristic  simphcity:  "The  people  were  scat- 
tered so  wide,  in  all  parts  of  the  town  from  Wapping  to  West- 
minster, that  I  could  not  easily  see  what  the  behavior  of  each 
person  in  his  own  neighborhood  was;  so  that  several  disorderly 
walkers  did  much  hurt  before  I  was  apprised  of  it.  At  length, 
while  we  were  thinking  of  quite  another  thing,  we  struck  upon 


Late  tlie  17.    v.  5 

Lord,    iiicreafc  ocir   Faith. 


Jail   I    il55./!Pu^^,  /^^Uo'^/^JP 


July  2  /^ 

0^0. 1.  n4^^^ 


A  "Quarterly  Ticket." 


a  method  for  which  we  have  cause  to  bless  God  ever  since." 
This  was  the  method  of  the  class  meeting,  which  was  first 
adopted  at  Bristol  in  1742.  There  still  remained  a  large  debt 
on  the  meetinghouse  built  in  the  Bristol  "  Horsefair  "  three 
years  before,  and  Wesley  called  together  the  principal  men  for 
consultation.  How  should  the  debts  be  paid  ?  Captain  Foy 
said,  *' Let  every  member  of  the  society  give  a  penny  a  week 
till  all  are  paid." 

Another  answered,  *'  But  many  of  them  are  poor,  and  cannot 
afford  to  do  it." 

"Then,"  said  Foy,  "pvtt  eleven  of  the  poorest  with  me,  and 
if  they  can  give  anything,  well;   I  will  call  on  them  weekly,  and 


124  John   Wesley  the  Methodist. 

if  they  can  give  nothing,  I  will  give  for  them  as  well  as  for 
myself.  And  each  of  you  call  on  eleven  of  youi  neigh- 
bors weekly,  receive  what  they  give,  and  make  up  what  is 
wanting." 

"It  was  done,"  says  Wesley.  "In  a  while,  some  of  these 
informed  me,  they  found  such  and  such  an  one  did  not  live  as 
he  ought.  It  struck  me  immediately,  'This  is  the  thing;  the 
very  thing  we  have  wanted  so  long. '  " 

The  layman  conceived  the  idea  that  solved  the  financial  prob- 
lem, and  that  quickened  in  the  preacher's  mind  the  plan  by 
which  the  spiritual  welfare  of  every  member  might  be  secured. 
Wesley  called  together  all  the  leaders  of  the  classes — as  they 
were  now  termed — and  desired  each  to  make  particular  inquiry 
into  the  behavior  of  those  he  visited.  This  was  done,  and 
"  many  disorderly  walkers  were  detected."  Some  turned  from 
the  evil  of  their  ways ;  others  were  put  out  of  the  society.  Thus 
was  found  a  plan  by  which  discipline  might  be  maintained, 
the  unworthy  admionished  or  dismis.sed,  and  the  consistent 
encouraged. 

On  Thursday,  April  25,  Wesley  called  together  in  London 
several  earnest  and  sensible  men,  told  them  of  the  difficulty  of 
knowing  the  people  who  desired  to  be  under  his  care,  and  after 
a  long  conversation  they  adopted  the  new  plan  of  classes. 
"  This  was  the  origin  of  our  classes  at  London,"  writes  Wesley, 
"  for  which  I  can  never  sufficiently  praise  God;  the  unspeak- 
able usefulness  of  the  institution  having  ever  since  been  more 
and  more  manifest." 

It  was  soon  found  impracticable  for  the  leader  to  visit  each 
member  at  his  own  house,  and  so  it  was  agreed  that  the  mem- 
bers of  each  class  should  come  together  at  some  suitable  place 
once  a  week.  Wesley  writes:  "It  can  scarce  be  conceived 
what  advantages  have  been  reaped  by  this  little  prudential 
regulation.     Many  experienced    that    Christian   fellowship    of 


Society  and  Class. 


125 


which  they  had  not  so  much  as  an  idea  before.  They  began  to 
bear  one  another's  burdens,  and  naturally  to  care  for  each 
other's  welfare.  And  as  they  had  , 
daily  a  more  intimate  acquaint- 
ance, so  they  had  a  more  endeared 
affection  for  each  other." 

After  the  division  of  the  society 
into  classes  there  came  the  institu- 
tion of  weekly  leaders'  meetings. 
The  leaders  were  untrained  men, 
and  the  objection  was  raised  that 
they  had  neither  gifts  nor  graces  for 
such  a  divine  employment.  Wes-  ^yK...{Jt/J^/(^^t-^<L^(yy^ 
ley,    however,    quietly    remarked,  ^'''^ 

A  Quarterly  Ticket,  1764. 

"  It  may  be  hoped  they  will  all  be 

better  than  they  are,  both  by  experience  and  by  observation,  and 
by  the  advices  given  them  by  the  minister  every  Tuesday  night, 
and  the  prayers  (then  in  particular)  offered  up  for  them." 

On  February  23,  1743,  John  Wesley  sent  forth  the  General 
Rules  in  his  own  name,  and  on  May  i  Charles  Wesley's  name 
was  signed  to  the  important  pamphlet.  The  society  was 
defined  as  "a  company  of  men,  having  the  form  and  seeking  the 
power  of  godliness,  united  in  order  to  pray  together,  to  receive 
the  word  of  exhortation,  and  to  watch  over  one  another  in  love, 
that  they  may  help  each  other  to  work  out  their  salvation." 
There  was  only  one  condition  required  for  admission  into  these 
societies— "a  desire  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come,  and  to  be 
saved  from  their  sins."  But  wherever  this  is  really  fixed  in  the 
soul  it  will  be  shown  by  its  fruits.  It  was  therefore  expected 
of  all  who  desired  to  continue  therein  that  they  should  continue 
"  to  evidence  their  desire  of  salvation,  first,  by  doing  no  harm, 
by  avoiding  evil  in  every  kind,  especially  that  which  is  most 
generally  practiced. "     One  special  test  was  in  the  "avoiding 


126 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


iWy- 


'VVA  I 


,t- 


AAJ> 


such  diversions  as  cannot  be  used  in  the  name  of  the  Lord 
Jesus."  A  further  evidence  of  sincerity  was  to  be  shown  by 
"  doing  good  of  every  possible  sort,  and  as  far  as  is  possible,  to 
all  men."  The  third  evidence  of  desire  for  salvation  was  by 
"attending  on  all  the  ordinances  of  God,"  such  as  public  wor- 
ship, the  ministry  of  the  word,  the  Lord's  Supper,  family  and 
private  prayer,  searching  the  Scriptures,  and  fasting  or  absti- 
nence. Thus  in  well-built  sections  was  laid  the  broad  platform 
of  Methodism. 

The   quarterly  visitation  of   the  classes  by  Wesley  and  his 

^fp^n^ (g'jf         preachers    and    the  use  of  a 

ticket  of  membership,  appear 
to  have  begun  in  1742.  Soon 
a  voluntary  subdivision  of 
the  class,  called  the  "band," 
was  instituted.  There  were 
bands  for  married  men,  mar- 
ried women,  single  men,  and 
single  women.  The  love 
feast,  the  agape  of  the  early 
Christians,  was  revived  by 
Wesley,  and  celebrated  quar- 
terly. At  first  band  mem- 
bers, and,  later,  all  members 
of  society  holding  class  tick- 
ets, were  admitted.  "A  little  plain  cake  and  water"  were  par- 
taken of  as  a  sign  of  fellowship,  and  the  service  consisted  of  a 
joyous  testimony  of  Christian  experience. 

Another  institution  pecuHar  to  Methodism  was  the  watch 
night.  The  colliers  at  Kingswood  had  heretofore  given  many 
a  night,  and  especially  the  last  night  of  the  year,  to  drunken 
revels  and  song.  When  they  became  Christians  their  social 
customs  underwent  a  transformation,  and  they  met  as  often  as 


yiP-n^^^,         jkP-^^/C^ 


A  Quarterly  Ticket,  1765. 


Society  and  Class. 


127 


March  17S9. 


^ 


3» 


5» 


If  we  deny  him,  he 
will  deny  us. 

aTim  il.  i2. 

B 


possible,  and  spent  the  greater  part  of  the  night  in  prayer  and 
praise.  Objectors  arose,  and  Wesley  was  urged  to  stop  the 
meetings.  He  remembered  that  the  early  Christians  spent 
whole  nights  in  prayer,  giving  to  them  the  name  vigilicz,  and 
he  saw  in  them  an  agency  for  good. 
vSohe  sent  the  members  word  that  on 
Friday  night  nearest  full  moon  (that 
there  might  be  light)  he  would  watch 
with  them  and  preach.  He  began 
the  meeting  between  eight  and  nine, 
and  continued  it  until  after  twelve, 
"  a  little  beyond  the  noon  of  night," 
as  Wesley  remarked.  The  first  meet- 
ing at  the  end  of  the  year  was  held 
at  Kingswood,  on  Wednesday,  De- 
cember 31,  1740.  The  first  watch 
night  in  London  was  held  on  Friday, 
April  9,  1742.  The  custom  ex- 
tended to  other  places.  The  meetings  in  time  ceased  to  be 
monthly,  and  were  held  quarterly,  but  in  recent  years  they  have 
been  confined  to  New  Year's  Eve.  CharlesWesley  wrote  some  tri- 
umphant hymns  for  use  on  these  occasions,  including  the  song 
in  which  every  English  watch-night  service  concludes  to-day, 
"Come,  let  us  anew  our  journey  pursue."  Another  service  of 
which  Wesley  made  much  was  one  ' '  for  renewing  the  covenant. " 

Very  soon  Wesley  was  driven,  ' '  sorely  against  his  own  will, "  _ 

says  Dr.  Rigg,  to  make  a  distinct  separation  of  his  societies  in^M'^Y^*''^^  wiM^, 
London  and  Bristol  from  the  Church  of  England.  The  clergy 
not  only  excluded  the  Wesleys  from  their  pulpits,  but  in  1740 
repelled  them  and  their  converts  from  the  Lord's  table.  At 
Bristol  especially,  in  that  year,  this  was  done  with  much  harsh- 
ness. The  brothers,  therefore,  administered  the  sacrament  in 
their  own  preaching  rooms.      The  practice  having  been  estab- 


A  Quarterly  Ticket,  1789. 


128  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

lished  at  Bristol,  the  London  society  at  the  Foundry  claimed 
the  same  privilege.  Thus  full  provision  was  made  for  the 
spiritual  wants  of  the  societies  quite  apart  from  the  services  of 
the  Church  of  England,  although  for  many  years  many  of  the 
Methodist  members  attended  the  communion  service  of  the 
Anglican  Church. 

Susanna  Wesley  was  providentially  at  hand  to  counsel  and 
encourage  her  son  when  he  was  laying  the  foundation  of  organ- 
ized Methodism.  She  stood  by  his  side  when  he  preached  at 
Kennington  Common  to  twenty  thousand  people.  She  was 
present  when  the  question  of  separation  from  the  Fetter  Lane 
society  was  discussed,  and  approved  of  the  withdrawal  of  the 
members  to  the  Foundry.  About  this  time  she  was  brought 
into  fuller  sympathy  than  ever  with  her  son's  views  of  the  pos- 
sibility of  conscious  forgiveness.  John  Wesley  records  a  con- 
versation in  which  she  said  that  until  recently  she  never  dared 
ask  this  blessing  for  herself.  "But  two  or  three  weeks  ago, 
while  my  son  Hall  was  pronouncing  these  words  in  delivering 
the  cup  to  me,  '  the  blood  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  which  was 
given  for  thee,'  the  words  struck  through  my  heart,  and  I 
knew  God  for  Christ's  sake  had  forgiven  me  all  my  sins."  "  I 
asked  her,"  says  Wesley,  "whether  her  father  (Dr.  Annesley) 
had  not  the  same  faith,  and  whether  she  had  not  heard  him 
preach  it  to  others.  She  answered:  '  He  had  it  himself,  and 
declared  a  little  before  his  death  that  for  more  than  forty  years 
he  had  no  darkness,  no  fear,  no  doubt  at  all  of  his  being 
accepted  in  the  Beloved. '  But  that,  nevertheless,  she  did  not 
remember  to  have  heard  him  preach,  no,  not  once,  especially 
upon  it;  whence  she  supposed  he  looked  upon  it  as  the  peculiar 
blessing  of  a  few;  not  as  promised  to  all  the  people  of  God." 
At  the  Foundry  Mrs.  Wesley  enjoyed  the  society  of  her  sons 
and  several  of  her  daughters,  and  attended  all  the  meetings  of 
the  infant  Methodist  Church. 


Society  and  Class. 


129 


But  Samuel  Wesley,  at  Tiverton,  was  greatl}^  distressed  by 
the  doctrinal  and  the  ecclesiastical  irregularities  of  his  younger 
brothers.  He  declared  in  a  letter  to  his  mother  shortly  before 
his  death,  November  6,  1739,  that  he  would  "much  rather 
have  them  picking  straws  within  the  walls  than  preaching  in 


The  Rev.  Samuel  Wesley,  Jr. 

The  print  was  published  after  his  death  ;  the  legend  is,  "late  master  of  the  grammar 
school  at  Tiverton,  elder  brother  of  the  Rev.  John  Wesley." 

the  area  of  Moorfields  " — alluding  to  the  lunatic  asylum.  "  It 
was  with  exceeding  concern  and  grief  I  heard  you  had  counte- 
nanced a  spreading  delusion  so  far  as  to  be  one  of  Jack's  con- 
gregation. Is  it  not  enough  that  I  am  bereft  of  both  my 
brothers,  but  must  my  mother  follow  too?  I  earnestly  beseech 
the  Almighty  to  preserve  you  from  joining  a  schism  at  the  close 
of  your  life,  as  you  were  unfortunately  engaged  in  one  at  the 
9 


130  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

beg-inning  of  it.  .  .  .  As  I  told  Jack,  I  am  not  afraid  the  Church 
should  excommunicate  him,  discipline  is  at  too  low  an  ebb,  but 
that  he  should  excommunicate  the  Church.  .  .  .  He  only  who 
ruleth  the  madness  of  the  people  can  stop  them  from  being  a 
formed  sect  in  a  very  little  time."  This  letter  faithfully  pre- 
sents the  views  of  many  a  clergyman  of  the  time. 

Although  some  Anglican  and  Methodist  writers  have  stated 
that  Wesley  did  nothing  that  was  inconsistent  with  the  laws  of 
the  Established  Church,  it  must  be  granted  that  his  "irregu- 
larities" were  calculated  to  alarm  the  "orderly  "  prelates  of  his 
day.  When  he  organized  his  societies,  built  and  registered 
meetinghouses  for  worship,  and,  later,  ordained  ministers  not 
only  to  preach,  but  to  administer  the  sacraments,  he  practically 
separated  from  the  State  Church  in  the  eyes  of  orderly  clergy. 
His  brother  Samuel,  as  we  have  seen,  very  early  called  his 
action  "schismatic. "  A  recent  Methodist  newspaper  observes 
that  there  could  be  no  more  curious  illustration  of  the  way  in 
which  our  wishes  can  destroy  our  logic  than  the  fact  that  Wes- 
ley persuaded  himself  to  the  end  that  he  had  not  separated 
from  the  Church  of  England.  Abel  vStevens,  breathing  the 
free  air  of  the  New  World,  has  said  that  English  writers  have 
deemed  it  desirable,  and  have  not  found  it  a  difificult  task,  to 
defend  Wesley  against  imputations  of  disregard  for  the  author- 
ity and  "order"  of  the  State  Church,  "  but  it  may  hereafter  be 
more  difficult  to  defend  him  before  the  rest  of  the  Christian 
world  for  having  been  so  deferential  to  a  hierarchy  whose  moral 
condition  at  the  time  he  so  much  denounced,  and  whose  studied 
policy  throughout  the  rest  of  his  life  was  to  disown  if  not  to 
defeat  him. " 

Within  five  weeks  of  John  Wesley's  return  from  Germany  he  and 
his  brother  Charles  were  summoned  before  the  Bishop  of  London, 
Dr.  Edmund  Gibson,  and  questioned  with  great  strictness. 
When  the  Wesley  brothers  appeared  before  him,  charged  with 


Society  and  Class.  131 

preaching  an  absolute  assurance  of  salvation,  he  heard  them 
fairly,  and  said:  "  If  by  assurance  you  mean  an  inward  persua- 
sion whereby  a  man  is  conscious  in  himself,  after  examining- 
his  life  by  the  law  of  God  and  weighing  his  own  sincerity,  that 
he  is  in  a  state  of  salvation,  and  acceptable  to  God,  I  don't  see 
how  any  good  Christian  can  be  without  such  an  assurance. "  To 
the  charge  of  preaching  justification  by  faith  only,  the  Wesleys 
replied:  "Can  anyone  preach  otherwise  who  agrees  to  our 
Church  and  the  Scriptures  ?  "  John  Wesley  inquired  if  his  read- 
ing in  a  religious  society  made  it  a  conventicle.  The  bishop  warily 
replied:  "  No,  I  think  not.  However,  you  can  read  the  acts 
and  laws  as  well  as  I.  I  determine  nothing  "  But  in  1739  the 
bishop  issued  a  pastoral  letter  in  which  he  charges  the  Metho- 
dists with  "  enthusiasm,"  or  "  a  strong  persuasion  in  their  mind 
that  they  are  guided  in  an  extraordinary  manner  by  immediate 
impulses  and  impressions  of  the  vSpirit  of  God."  They  were 
guilty  of  "  boasting  of  sudden  and  surprising  effects,  wrought 
by  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  consequence  of  their  preaching."  He 
supported  the  churchwardens  of  Islington  against  their  vicar 
and  excluded  Charles  Wesley  from  the  pulpit. 

We  find  John  Wesley  again  facing  the  bishop  in  1740.  What 
did  he  mean  by  perfection  ?  was  the  question.  When  Wesley 
had  replied  the  bishop  said,  "  Mr.  Wesley,  if  this  be  all  you 
mean,  publish  it  to  the  world."  And  Wesley  gladly  obeyed  by 
publishing  his  sermon  on  Christian  Perfection.  But  a  little 
later  the  rise  of  the  societies  and  the  field-preaching,  with  its 
sensational  accompaniments,  again  alarmed  the  bishop.  He 
wrote  a  pamphlet  against  this  ' '  sect, "  in  which  he  charged  them 
with  "having  had  the  boldness  to  preach  in  the  fields  and 
other  open  places,  and  inviting  the  rabble  to  be  their  hearers," 
in  defiance  of  a  statute  of  Charles  II.  Wesley  replied  in  his 
Farther  Appeal  to  Men  of  Reason  and  Religion.  He  declares 
that    the    clergy,   who  will  not    suffer   him    to    preach    in   the 


132  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

churches,  are  accountable  for  his  preaching  in  the  fields.  Be- 
sides, "  one  plain  reason  why  these  sinners  are  never  reclaimed 
is  this,  they  never  come  into  a  church.  Will  you  say,  as  some 
tender-hearted  Christians  I  have  heard,  '  Then  it  is  their  own 
fault;  let  them  die  and  be  damned  ! '  I  grant  it  may  be  their 
own  fault,  but  the  Saviour  of  souls  came  after  us,  and  so  we 
ought  to  seek  to  save  that  which  is  lost. "  The  able  and  sincere 
Bishop  Gibson  could  not  shake  himself  free  from  the  prejudices 
and  Church  "  order  "  which  stood  in  the  way  of  the  salvation  of 
the  despised  "  rabble,"  and  in  another  of  his  pastorals  he  classes 
the  Methodists  with  "deists,  papists,  and  other  disturbers  of 
the  kingdom  of  God." 

Bishop  Butler,  author  of  the  great  Analogy,  summoned 
Wesley,  and  after  a  conversation  on  justification  by  faith,  for 
which  the  Methodist  claimed  the  support  of  the  Anglican  Hom- 
ilies, said: 

"You  have  no  business  here;  you  are  not  commissioned 
to  preach  in  this  diocese.  Therefore  I  advise  you  to  go 
hence." 

"  My  Lord,  my  business  on  earth  is  to  do  what  good  I  can," 
replied    Wesley.       "Wherever,    therefore,    I    think    I   can  do 
most  good,  there  must  I  stay  so  long  as  I  think  so.     At  present 
I    think   I  can   do   most   good    here  ;    therefore   here    I    stay. 
....     Being    ordained   a  priest,    by   the    commission   I  then 
JMy/)   (I^^AJ^/  received  I  am  a  priest    of   the    Church    universal;  and    being 

'J^JJh  ordained  as  fellow  of  a  college,  I  was  not  limited  to  any  partic- 

ular cure,  but  have  an  indeterminate  commission  to  preach  the 
word  of  God  in  any  part  of  the  Church  of  England.  I  do  not, 
therefore,  conceive  that  in  preaching  here  by  this  commission 
I  break  any  human  law.  When  I  am  convinced  I  do  then  it 
will  be  time  to  ask,  '  Shall  I  obey  God  or  man  ? '  But  if  I 
should  be  convinced  in  the  meanwhile  that  I  could  advance  the 
glory  of  God  and  the  salvation  of  souls  in  any  other  place  more 


^K 


Society  and  Class.  135 

than  in  Bristol,  in   that  hour,  by  God's  help,  I  will  go  hence; 
which  till  then  I  may  not  do." 

Wesley  took  his  own  time  and  did  not  leave  Bristol  until  per- 
suaded that  it  was  his  duty  to  labor  elsewhere. 

There  was  a  deluge  of  pamphlets  and  articles  against  the 
Methodists,  in  which  Wesley  was  branded  as  "a  restless 
deceiver  of  the  people,"  "  a  newfangled  teacher  setting  up  his 
own  fanatical  conceits  in  opposition  to  the  authority  of  God," 
"  a  Jesuit  in  disguise,"  and,  worst  of  all,  "a  Dissenter."  The 
Methodists  were  denounced  as  "young  quacks  in  divinity," 
"  buffoons  in  religion,"  "bold  movers  of  sedition,  and  ring- 
leaders of  the  rabble."  The  magazines  and  newspapers  con- 
ducted a  hot  crusade  against  them,  "stirring  up  the  people," 
writes  Wesley,  "  to  knock  these  mad  dogs  on  the  head  at  once;  " 
and  we  shall  find  that  mob  violence  soon  followed  these  appeals 
of  the  press  and  censures  of  the  prelates. 

In  answer  to  a  clergyman  who  forbade  his  preaching  in  his  ^ 
parish,    Wesley   gave  utterance  to   the    famous  saying   which 
appears  on  the  Wesley  tablet  in  Westminster  Abbey.    He  wrote : 
"God  in  Scripture  commands  me,  according  to  my  power,  to 
instruct  the  ignorant,  reform  the  wicked,  confirm  the  virtuous. 
Man  forbids  me  to  do  this  in  another's  parish;  that  is,  in  effect, 
not  to  do  it  at  all,  seeing  I  have  now  no  parish  of  my  own,  nor 
probably  ever  shall.      Whom,  then,  shall  I  hear,  God  or  man  ?  j 
.   .   .   I  look  upon  all  the  7uor Id  as  my  parish;  thus  far  I  mean' 
that,  in  whatever  part  of  it  I  am,  I  judge   it  meet,  right,  and 
my  bounden  duty  to  declare   unto  all  that  are  willing  to  hear\ 
the  glad  tidings  of  salvation.      This  is  the  work  which  I  know  \ 
God  has  called  me  to,  and  sure  I  am  that  his  blessing  attends  it. " 

In  1742  John  Wesley  began  to  occupy  a  larger  portion  of  his 
boundless  parish. 

During  the  year  he  spent  about  twenty-four  weeks  in  London, 
fourteen  in  Bristol  and  its  neighborhood,  one  in   Wales,   and 


136  John  Wesley  the  INIeihodist. 

thirteen  in  making  two  tours  to  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  the  metrop- 
ohs  of  the  busy  North. 

His  own  account  of  his  Newcastle  visit  is  graphic.  He  had 
never  seen  and  heard  before  in  so  short  a  time  so  much  drunk- 
enness, cursing,  and  swearing — even  from  the  mouths  of  little 
children.      He  writes: 

At  seven  I  walked  down  to  Sandgate,  the  poorest  and  most  contemptible 
part  of  the  town,  and,  standing  at  the  end  of  the  street  with  John  Taylor, 
began  to  sing  the  looth  psalm.  Three  or  four  people  came  out  to  see  what 
was  the  matter,  who  soon  increased  to  four  or  live  hundred.  I  suppose 
there  might  be  twelve  or  fifteen  hundred  before  I  had  done  preaching,  to 
whom  I  applied  those  solemn  words,  "  He  was  wounded  for  our  transgres- 
sions, he  was  bruised  for  our  iniquities :  the  chastisement  of  our  peace  was 
upon  him ;  and  by  his  stripes  we  are  healed." 

Observing  the  people,  when  I  had  done,  to  stand  gaping  and  staring  upon 
me  with  the  most  profound  astonishment,  I  told  them:  "  If  you  desire  to 
know  who  I  am,  my  name  is  John  Wesley.  At  five  in  the  evening,  with 
God's  help,  I  design  to  preach  here  again." 

At  five  the  hill  on  which  I  designed  to  preach  was  covered  from  the  tojD 
to  the  bottom.  I  never  saw  so  large  a  number  of  people  together,  either  in 
Moorfields  or  at  Kennington  Common.  I  knew  it  was  not  possible  for  the 
.one  half  to  hear,  although  my  voice  was  then  strong  and  clear ;  and  I  stood 
so  as  to  have  them  all  in  view,  as  they  were  ranged  on  the  side  of  the  hill. 
The  word  of  God  which  I  set  before  them  was,  "  I  will  heal  their  back- 
sliding, I  will  love  them  freely."  After  preaching  the  poor  people  were 
ready  to  tread  me  under  foot,  out  of  pure  love  and  kindness.  It  was  some 
time  before  I  could  possibly  get  out  of  the  press.  I  then  went  back  another 
way  than  I  came ;  but  several  were  got  to  our  inn  before  me,  by  whom  I 
was  vehemently  importuned  to  stay  with  them,  at  least  a  few  days,  or, 
however,  one  day  more.  But  I  could  not  consent,  having  given  my  word 
to  be  at  Birstall,  with  God's  leave,  on  Tuesday  night. 

Four  months  before  his  mother's  death  Wesley  revisited  his 
birthplace,  Epworth.  The  curate  was  now  Mr.  Romley,  who 
had  been  schoolmaster  at  Wroote,  had  been  assisted  by  Wesley's 
father  in  preparing  for  Oxford,  and  had  been  his  amanuensis 
and  curate.  On  Sunday  morning  Wesley  offered  to  assist  Mr. 
Romley  either  by  preaching  or  reading  the  prayers,  but  the 
curate  would  have  none  of  his  help.  In  the  afternoon  Wesley 
took  his  seat  in  the  church,  which  was  crowded  in  consequence 


Society  and  Class.  137 

of  a  rumor  that  he  would  preach.  Romley  preached  a  florid 
and  rhetorical  sermon  against  "enthusiasm  "  with  evident  ref- 
erence to  Methodism. 

But  the  people  were  not  to  be  disappointed.  As  they  came 
out  John  Taylor  announced  that  Mr.  Wesley,  not  being  per- 
mitted to  preach  in  the  church,  would  preach  in  the  churchyard 
at  six  o'clock.  At  that  hour  he  stood  on  his  father's  tombstone 
and  preached  to  the  largest  congregation  ever  seen  in  Epworth. 
"  The  scene  was  unique  and  inspiriting — a  living  son  preaching 
on  a  dead  father's  grave  because  the  parish  priest  would  not 
allow  him  to  ofificiate  in  a  dead  father's  church."  "I  am  well 
assured,"  writes  Wesley,  "that  I  did  far  more  good  to  my 
Lincolnshire  parishioners  by  preaching  three  days  on  my  father's 
tomb  than  I  did  by  preaching  three  years  in  his  pulpit." 

He  could  not  resist  the  appeal  to  remain  a  few  days  longer, 
and  on  eight  evenings  he  preached  from  the  tomb-pulpit.  In 
the  daytime  he  visited  the  surrounding  villages.  He  waited 
on  a  justice  of  the  peace,  and  writes  of  him  as  "  a  man  of  can- 
dor and  understanding;  before  whom  (I  was  informed)  their 
angry  neighbors  had  carried  a  whole  wagonload  of  these  here- 
tics. But  when  he  asked  what  they  had  done,  there  was  a 
deep  silence;  for  that  was  a  point  their  conductors  had  forgot. 
At  length  one  said,  '  Why,  they  pretended  to  be  better  than 
other    people;    and,    besides,    they  prayed    from    morning    to  "'^^ 

night.'     Mr.  S.  asked,  '  But  have  they  done  nothing  besides.^'  ^7-^/%^^. 

'Yes,  sir,'  said  an  old  man;  '  an't  please  your  worship,  they 
have  convartcd  my  wife.  Till  she  went  among  them  she  had 
such  a  tongue!  And  now  she  is  as  quiet  as  a  lamb.'  'Carry 
them  back,  carry  them  back ! '  replied  the  justice,  '  and  let 
them  convert  all  the  scolds  in  the  town.'  " 

The  churchyard  services  were  attended  with  amazing  power. 
On  the  Saturday  evening  Wesley's  voice  was  drowned  by  the 
cries  of  penitents,   and  many  then   and   there  found  rest  for 


138 


John  Wesley  the  MethodisTo 


their  souls.      His  last  service  at  Epworth  lasted  three  hours, 
and   "yet,"  says  Wesley,  "we  scarce  knew  how  to  part.     O 


Methodism  in  Wesley's  County,  A.  D.  1903. 

The  heavy  black  dots  represent  the  location  of  Wesleyan  chapels  in  Lincolnshire 

at  the  present  day. 

let  none  think  his  labor  of  love  is  lost  because  the  fruit  does 
not  immediately  appear!  Near  forty  years  did  my  father  labor 
here;  but  he  saw  little  fruit  of  all  his  labor.     I  took  some  pains 


Society  and  Class.  139 

among  this  people,  too,  and  my  strength  almost  seemed  spent 
in  vain ;  but  now  the  fruit  appeared.  There  were  scarce  any 
in  the  town  on  whom  either  my  father  or  I  had  taken  any  pains 
formerly,  but  the  seed  sown  long  since  now  sprung  up,  bring- 
ing forth  repentance  and  remission  of  sins." 

The  next  year  Wesley  again  visited  Epworth,  and,  it  being 
a  place  under  heaven  where  this  should  befall  me  first  as  my 
father's  house,  the  place  of  my  nativity,  and  the  very  place 
where,  "according  to  the  straitest  sect  of  our  religion,"  I  had 
so  long  "lived  a  Pharisee."  It  was  also  fit,  in  the  highest 
degree,  that  he  who  repelled  me  from  that  very  table  where  I 
had  myself  so  often  distributed  the  bread  of  life  should  be  one 
who  owed  his  all  in  this  world  to  the  tender  love  which  my 
father  had  shown  to  his  as  well  as  personally  to  himself. 

Methodism  in  Lincolnshire  owes  its  organized  churches  to 
the  service  of  Wesley  in  his  father's  churchyard.  During  the 
forty-eight  years  that  followed  Wesley  made  many  visits  to  his 
native  county,  preaching  in  nearly  all  its  towns  and  many  of 
its  villages.  In  1761  he  writes,  "I  find  the  work  of  God 
increases  on  every  side,  but  particularly  in  Lincolnshire,  where 
there  has  been  no  work  like  this  since  the  time  I  preached  on 
my  father's  tomb."  His  last  visit  to  Epworth  was  paid  just 
eight  months  before  his  death,  when  he  preached  in  the  mar- 
ket place  to  a  large  crowd  on  "How  shall  we  escape  if  we 
neglect  so  great  salvation  ? "  At  the  centenary  of  his  death, 
in  1 89 1,  the  Wesleyan  Methodist  societies  of  his  native  county 
reported  a  membership  of  twenty  thousand,  or  one  twentieth 
of  the  entire  membership  of  the  societies  in  England  and 
Wales;  and  this  in  a  county  the  entire  population  of  which  is 
considerably  under  half  a  million. 

Susanna  Wesley,  "the  mother  of  the  Wesleys  "  and  the 
"mother  of  Methodism,"  lived  to  see  England  awakening  at 
the  call  of  her  devoted  sons,  and  in  the  metropolis,  the  west. 


140 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


and  the  North  of  Eng- 
land she  heard  of  mul- 
titudes quickened  by 
the  new  life  and  en- 
rolled in  the  new  fel- 
lowship. The  records 
of  her  closing  days 
are  brief.  In  the  last 
letter  she  is  known  to 
have  written  she  is 
rejoicing  in  the  clear 
assurance  which  came 
to  her  so  late  in  life: 


"He  did   by  his   Spirit 
apply  the  merits  of  the 
great  atonement  to  my 
soul,  by  telling  me  that 
Christ  died  for  me.  . 
If  I  do  want    anything 
without  which  I  cannot 
be  saved  (of  which  I  am 
not  at  present  sensible), 
then    I    believe    I    shall 
not  die  before  that  want 
is  supplied. " 


Grave  of  Susanna  Wesley,  Bunhill  Fields, 
London. 


Society  and  Class.  141 

Her  son  John  was  at  Bristol  when  he  heard  that  she  was 
failing  fast,  and  after  preaching  to  a  large  congregation  on 
Sunday  evening,  July  18,  1742,  he  rode  off  hurriedly  to  Lon- 
don. He  reached  the  Foundry  on  the  20th,  and  wrote  in  his 
Journal,  "  I  found  my  mother  on  the  borders  of  eternity;  but 
she  has  no  doubt  or  fear,  nor  any  desire  but,  as  soon  as  God 
should  call  her,  to  depart  and  be  with  Christ. "  Fifteen  years 
before,  she  had  told  John  that  she  did  not  wish  her  children  to 
weep  at  her  parting  from  them,  but  if  they  "were  likely  to 
reap  any  spiritual  advantage  "  by  being  present  at  her  depar- 
ture, she  would  be  glad  to  have  them  with  her.  Charles  was 
absent  from  London,  but  her  five  daughters  were  present,  as 
well  as  John. 

On  the  following  Friday  they  saw  that  her  end  was  near. 
John  read  the  solemn  commendatory  prayer,  as  he  had  done 
seven  years  before  for  his  father.      It  was  four  o'clock  when 
he  left  her  side  for  a  moment  to  "  drink  a  dish  of  tea,"  being    , 
faint  and   weary  with   watching    and  emotion.      "One   called  7  ^'^''^^^      ^ 
me  again  to  her  bedside,"  he  says.      "She  opened  her  eyes'p^ '-^'^-^''^''""^^^ 
wide  and  fixed   them  upward  for  a  moment.     Then  the  Hds        '        '  '  f  ' 
dropped  and  the  soul  was  set  at  liberty  without  one  struggle 
or  groan  or  sigh.     We  stood  around  the  bed  and  fulfilled  her 
last  request,  uttered  a  little  before  she  lost  her  speech,  '  Chil- 
dren, as  soon  as  I  am  released  sing  a  psalm  of  praise  to  God! 

She  was  buried  in  "the  great  Puritan  necropoHs,"  Bunhill 
Fields.  A  witness  records:  "At  the  grave  there  was  much 
grief  when  Mr.  Wesley  said,  '  I  commit  the  body  of  my 
mother  to  the  earth! '  "  Then  a  hymn  was  sung,  and  standing 
by  the  open  grave  Wesley  preached  to  a  vast  congregation 
which  he  describes  as  "  one  of  the  most  solemn  assemblies  I 
ever  saw,  or  expect  to  see  on  this  side  eternity."  His  sub- 
ject was  "the  great  white  throne"  of  the  Book  of  the 
Revelation. 


142  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


CHAPTER  X. 
Lay  Helpers. 

Wesley's   "Irregularities." — "Soul-saving    Laymen." — Cennick,    Hum- 
phreys, Maxfield. — "  He  is  as  Surely  Called  of  God  to  Preach 
as  You  Are." — John  Nelson,  of  Birstall. — The  Extraordinary 
Call  of  Women. — Mary  Bosanquet  and  others. 


m: 


'ESLEY  had  already  become  a  radical  anti-High  Church- 
man. Four  departures  from  conventional  church 
"order  "evidence  this.  He  had  organized  a  system 
of  religious  societies  altogether  independent  of  the  parochial 
clergy  and  of  episcopal  control,  and  the  "rules"  of  his  socie- 
ties contained  no  requirement  of  allegiance  to  the  State  Church. 
This  was  a  distinct  step  toward  a  separate  communion.  A  year 
later  he  had  built  meetinghouses,  licensed  and  settled  on  trus- 
tees for  his  own  use.  The  next  year  he  began,  with  his  broth- 
er, to  administer  the  sacraments  in  these  houses.  Now  he  took 
another  step  in  the  same  direction  by  calling  out  lay  preachers, 
wholly  devoted  to  the  work  of  preaching  and  visitation.  When 
this  last  step  was  challenged  he  met  it  in  a  style  which  showed 
how  resolutely  he  was  "  casting  off  the  graveclothes  "  of  sacer- 
dotalism. "I  do  assure  you  this  at  present  is  my  embai"rass- 
ment.  That  I  have  not  gone  too  far  yet  I  know,  but  whether 
I  have  gone  far  enough  I  am  extremely  doubtful.  .  .  .  Soul- 
damning  clergymen  lay  me  under  more  difficulties  than  soul- 
saving  laymen." 

The  step  cost  him  a  severe  struggle.  "  To  touch  this  point," 
he  says,  "was  to  touch  the  apple  of  mine  eye."  But  in  his 
First  Appeal  to  Men  of  Reason  and  Religion  he  triumphantly 


Lay  Helpers.  143 

justifies  lay  preaching  by  vScripture,  Chtircli  history,  and  Chris- 
tian common  sense.  "God  immediately  gave  a  blessing 
thereto.  In  several  places,  by  means  of  these  plain  men,  not 
only  those  who  had  begun  to  run  well  were  hindered  from 
drawing  back  unto  perdition,  but  other  sinners  also,  from  time 
to  time,  were  converted  from  the  error  of  their  ways.  ...  I 
know  no  Scripture  which  forbids  making  use  of  such  help  in  a 
case  of  such  necessity.  And  I  praise  God  who  has  given  even 
this  help  to  these  poor  sheep  when  their  own  shepherd  pitied 
them  not." 

The  "  plain  men  "  who  head  the  host  of  Wesley's  lay  preach- 
ers are  John  Cennick,  Joseph  Humphreys,  Thomas  Maxfield, 
and  John  Nelson. 

John  Cennick  was  the  grandson  of  persecuted  Quakers.  He 
had  turned  from  a  reckless  youth  to  deep  seriousness  and  so  to 
a  joyous  Christian  experience.  He  made  the  acquaintance  of 
the  Methodist  leaders,  and  was  engaged  to  teach  the  Kingswood 
school.  Here,  with  Wesley's  approval,  he  began  "expound- 
ing "  the  word  to  the  assembled  colliers.  Later  he  left  the 
Methodists  and  joined  the  Moravians,  doing  nobly  the  work  of 
an  evangelist  amid  mobs  and  sore  abuse.  He  died  in  1755,  if 
it  be  well  to  speak  of  him  as  dead  who  wrote  those  living  hymns, 
"  Children  of  the  heavenly  King  "  and  "  Thou  dear  Redeemer, 
dying  Lamb." 

Joseph  Humphreys,  who  began  to  assist  Wesley  at  the  Foun- 
dry in  1740,  had  been  trained  for  the  ministry  in  a  Dissenters' 
school.  Having  been  awakened  by  hearing  the  Methodist 
preachers,  he  began  to  read  sermons,  then  to  exhort  briefly,  and 
finally  to  preach,  in  spite  of  jeers  and  maltreatment.  After 
his  work  with  Wesley  he  joined  Whitefield's  following,  later  the 
Presbyterians,  and  died  a  regularly  ordained  clergyman. 

Thomas  Maxfield  was  one  of  the  first  converts  at  Bristol. 
He  went  up  to  London  with  Charles  Wesley,  and  was  helpful 


144  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

as  a  personal  worker  at  the  Foundry  meetings.  By  the  usual 
stages  he  went  on  from  exhortation  to  preaching  in  John  Wes- 
ley's absence. 

Wesley  at  first  considered  this  preaching  of  sermons,  as  dis- 
tinguished from  the  informal  exhortations  of  a  leader,  an 
irregularity,  and  hastened  back  to  London  to  check  it.  He 
arrived  with  an  anxious  look  upon  his  face.  His  mother  in- 
quired the  reason  of  his  concern  and  displeasure. 

"Thomas  Maxfield  has  turned  preacher, "  was  his  abrupt 
reply. 

"  John,"  said  Mrs.  Wesley,  "  you  know  what  my  sentiments  \ 
S^^,^^j,,yi^JlfJlj^  I    have  been.      You  cannot  suspect  me  of    favoring  readily  any-  / 
thing  of  this  kind.      But  take  care  what  you  do  with  respect  to 
that  young  man ;  for  he  is  as  surely  called  of  God  to  preach  as  i 
you  are.      Examine  what  have  been  the  points  of  his  preaching, 
and  hear  him  yourself." 

Wesley  heard  Maxfield  preach,  and  was  satisfied.  "  It  is  the 
Lord!"  he  exclaimed;  "let  him  do  what  seemeth  him  good. 
What  am  I  that  I  should  withstand  God  ?  "  His  last  scruples 
about  employing  unordained  preachers  yielded  to  his  mother's 
argument,  and  the  woman  apostle  of  the  old  rectory  kitchen, 
who  had  alarmed  her  good  husband  by  the  "irregularity"  of 
her  fireside  services,  gave  an  impetus  to  the  work  of  the  lay 
preachers  which  is  felt  to-day  over  the  whole  earth.  The  way 
was  now  prepared  for  the  extension  of  Methodism  throughout 
the  country,  and  for  the  growth  of  the  "  circuit  "  system. 

But  Wesley's  enlistment  of  laymen  roused  afresh  the  fears  of 
the  English  prelates.  When  Robinson,  the  Archbishop  of 
Armagh,  met  Charles  Wesley  at  the  Hot-wells,  Bristol,  he 
said  : 

"  I  knew  your  brother  well;  I  could  never  credit  all  I  heard 
respecting  him  and  you ;  but  one  thing  in  your  conduct  I  could 
never  account  for — your  employing  laymen." 


Lay  Helpers.  145 

"My  Lord,"  said  Charles,  "the  fault  is  yours  and  your 
brethren." 

"  How  so  ?  "  asked  the  primate. 

"  Because  you  hold  your  peace,  and  the  stones  cry  out." 

"But  I  am  told,"  said  the  archbishop,  "that  they  are 
unlearned  men." 

"Some  are,"  said  the  sprightly  poet;  "so  the  dumb  ass 
rebukes  the  prophet." 

John  Wesley's  defense  of  these  "  unlettered  "  men  was,  per- 
haps, more  to  the  point.      He  wrote: 

"I  am  bold  to  affirm  that  these  unlettered  men  have  help 
from  God  for  that  great  work — the  saving  of  souls  from  death. 
.  .  .  Indeed,  in  the  one  thing  which  they  profess  to  know,  they 
are  not  ignorant  men.  I  trust  there  is  not  one  of  them  who  is 
not  able  to  go  through  such  an  examination  in  substantial, 
practical,  experimental  divinity  as  few  of  our  candidates  for 
holy  orders,  even  in  the  university,  are  able  to  do." 

John  Nelson,  the  prince  of  lay  preachers,  was  a  giant  York- 
shire stonecutter,  whose  great  body  held  a  soul  tormented  by 
uncertainty.  "  Surely  God  never  made  man  to  be  such  a  riddle 
to  himself,  and  to  leave  him  so,"  he  wrote,  in  the  era  of  his 
spiritual  conflicts.  ' '  I  was  like  a  wandering  bird  cast  out  of 
the  nest  till  Mr.  John  Wesley  came  to  preach  his  first  sermon 
in  Moorfields.  O  that  was  a  blessed  morning  to  my  soul!  As 
soon  as  he  got  upon  the  stand  he  stroked  back  his  hair  and 
turned  his  face  toward  where  I  stood,  and,  I  thought,  fixed  his 
eyes  upon  me.  His  countenance  struck  such  an  awful  dread 
upon  me,  before  I  heard  him  speak,  that  it  made  my  heart  beat 
like  the  pendulum  of  a  clock,  and  when  he  did  speak  I  thought 
his  whole  discourse  was  aimed  at  me.  When  he  had  done  I 
said,  '  This  man  can  tell  the  secrets  of  my  heart ;  he  hath  not 
left  me  there,  for  he  hath  shown  the  remedy,  even  the  blood 
of  Jesus. '  " 
10 


146 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


Conversion  made  John  Nelson  a  new  creature.  His  Birstall 
neighbors  were  curious  to  know  the  cause  of  the  change,  and 
from  telling  them  he  was  soon  preaching  to  them.  "  If  it  be 
my  Master's  will,  I  am  ready  to  go  to  hell,"  said  he,  "and 
preach  to  the  devils."     He  could  hardly  have  fared  worse  had 


John  Nelson 

he  been  taken  at  his  word.  The  parish  clergy  were  enraged  to 
see  a  stone  mason  assuming  to  teach  people  the  way  to  heaven. 
They  used  every  means  foul  and  fair  to  silence  him  and  dis- 
perse his  meetings.  Wesley  saw  the  greatness  of  the  man  and 
called  him  to  London.  Together  they  traversed  Cornwall, 
preaching  and  enduring  opposition  and  privation.  He  was 
cast  into  prison,  impressed  as  a  soldier,  but  after  three  months 


Lay  Helpers.  147 

was  released.  He  continued  to  preach  in  the  market  places, 
submitting  to  all  indignities  rather  than  defend  himself  by  his 
strength.  Once  he  was  felled  by  a  brute  who  had  sworn  to 
kill  him.  His  assailant  leaped  upon  him  several  times,  till  he 
was  breathless,  and  the  renewed  bleeding  from  his  morning 
wounds  left  him  unconscious.  The  bully  then  seized  one  of 
the  Methodists  who  was  near  and  flung  him  against  a  wall, 
breaking  two  of  his  ribs.      He  then  went  to  the  gentleman  who 


^'"W'te'M  'M. 


John  Nelson's  Birthplace  ' 

At  Birstall,  Yorkshire. 

had  hired  him  and  boasted,  "I  have  killed  the  preacher;  he 
lies  dead  in  the  croft. " 

As  Nelson  lay  bleeding  on  the  ground  "  the  parson's  broth- 
er "  and  about  twenty  others  came  to  see  if  he  were  really  dead. 
They  cursed  him  soundly,  dragged  him  into  the  street  as  con- 
sciousness returned,  and  one  after  another  struck  him  till  he 
was  down  again.  Eight  times  he  struggled  to  his  knees,  and 
eight  times  they  knocked  him  down.  Then  taking  him  by  his 
long  hair,  they  dragged  him  over  the  stones,  kicking  him 
fiercely.      Six  of  them  got  on  his  body  and  thighs,    "  to  tread 


148  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

the  Holy  vSpirit  out  of  him,"  they  said.  One  exclaimed,  "I 
have  heard  that  a  cat  has  nine  lives  ;  bnt  I  think  he  has  nine- 
score. "  Another  said,  "If  he  has,  he  shall  die  this  day.'" 
The  "gentlemen"  then  dragged  him  to  the  village  well  and 
attempted  to  put  him  in,  but  a  woman  intervened  and  resisted 
them,  and  at  last  some  "gentlewomen  from  the  city  called  the 
gentlemen  by  their  names,"  who  looked  as  men  confounded  at 
being  discovered  in  this  dastardly  work.  Some  friends  helped 
him  into  a  house,  and  the  next  day  he  met  Wesley  and  "found 
his  word  come  with  power  "  to  his  soul,  and  was  constrained 
to  cry  out :  "  O  Lord,  I  will  praise  thee.  .  .  .  Thou  hast 
brought  me  out  of  the  jaws  of  death." 

It  was  with  men  of  such  mettle  to  carry  the  proclamation 
that  John  Wesley  organized  his  itinerant  ministry. 

We  have  seen  that  Susanna  Wesley  became  a  lay  preacher 
in  the  rectory  of  Epworth  and  saw  the  fruit  of  her  labor.  Her 
meetings  formed  part  of  that  providential  training  which  made 
her  not  only  the  mother  of  the  Wesleys,  but  also  the  "mother 
of  Methodism."  We  cannot  wonder  that  John  Wesley,  en- 
riched by  the  influence  of  his  gifted  mother  and  sisters,  should 
have  recognized  the  freedom  and  power  of  woman  in  the  work 
of  extending  and  deepening  the  Evangelical  Revival  and  its 
philanthropic  ministry. 

Mary  Bosanquet,  who  became  the  wife  of  Fletcher  of  Made- 
ley,  is  the  most  eminent  of  the  daughters  of  Methodism  who 
received  what  Wesley  called  the  "extraordinary  call"  to  ad- 
dress mixed  public  congregations.  She  was  the  daughter  of 
wealthy  worldly  folk,  and  it  was  from  a  Methodist  maidservant 
that  Mary  first  heard  of  the  peace  that  comes  with  believing. 
Before  she  was  twenty  her  father  drove  her  from  home  because 
she  would  not  promise  to  refrain  from  trying  to  convert  her 
brothers.  With  her  own  means  she  opened  an  orphanage. 
She  and  Mrs.  Sarah  Crosby,  one  of  her  helpers,  began  to  ad- 


Lay  Helpers. 


149 


dress  the  members  of  society.     Many  were  present,  and  the 
two  women  were  in  effect  preaching  before  they  knew  it. 

In    177 1    Mrs.  Crosby  wrote   a  letter  to  Wesley  to  ask  his 
advice  and  direction  for  Miss   Bosanquet  on  the  same  point. 


Mrs.  John  Fletcher  (Mary  Bosanquet). 
One  of  the  women  who  were  "  called  to  preach." 

With  the  sound  judgment  and  calm,  good  sense  which  distin- 
guished her  she  argues  that  from  the  Scriptures  it  is  clear  that 
occasionally  women  had  an  extraordinary  call  to  preach.  For  (J^jj^j-^  Wj^^J(^ 
herself  she  concludes,  "  If  I  did  not  believe  I  had  an  extraor- 
dinary call,  I  would  not  act  in  an  extraordinary  manner." 
Wesley's  reply  expresses  his  mature  and  final  opinion: 


150  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

"  My  Dear  Sister:  I  think  the  strength  of  the  cause  rests 
there;  on  your  having  an  extraordinary  call.  So  I  am  per- 
suaded has  every  one  of  our  lay  preachers;  otherwise  I  could 
not  countenance  his  preaching  at  all.  It  is  plain  to  me  that  the 
whole  work  of  God  termed  Methodism  is  an  extraordinary  dis- 
pensation of  his  providence.  Therefore  I  do  not  wonder  if 
several  things  occur  therein  which  do  not  fall  under  ordinary 
rules  of  discipline.  St.  Paul's  ordinary  rule  was,  '  I  permit 
not  a  woman  to  speak  in  the  congregation.'  Yet  in  extra- 
ordinary cases  he  made  a  few  exceptions;  at  Corinth,  in 
particular. 

"  I  am,  my  dear  sister,  your  affectionate  brother, 

'John  Wesley." 

Mrs.  Crosby  traveled  widely  through  Yorkshire  after  this 
letter,  and  her  labors  w^ere  owned  of  God. 

Mary  Bosanquet  was  asked  by  many,  "If  you  are  called  to 
preach,  why  do  you  not  do  it  constantly,  and  take  a  round  as  a 
preacher?"  She  answered,  "Because  that  is  not  my  call.  I 
have  many  duties  to  attend  to,  and  many  cares  which  they 
know  nothing  about.  I  must  therefore  leave  myself  to  his 
guidance  who  hath  the  sole  right  of  disposing  of  me. "  Again, 
she  tells  us,  they  asked,  "Why  do  you  not  give  out,  *  I  am  to 
preach?'  Why  call  it  meeting  ?  "  She  answered,  "Because  that 
suits  my  design  best.  First,  it  is  less  ostentatious.  Secondly, 
it  leaves  me  at  liberty  to  speak  more  or  less,  as  I  feel  myself 
led.  Thirdly,  it  gives  less  offense  to  those  who  watch  for  it." 
Thus  she  uses  her  gifts  with  discretion,  as  tenderly  sensitive  to 
inward  impressions,  which  she  believed  were  wrought  by  the 
Holy  Spirit,  as  the  saintly  Quaker  women  like  Elizabeth  Fry 
and  Mary  Capper.  For  thirteen  years  she  toiled  at  Cross  Hall, 
sometimes  in  great  financial  straits,  sometimes  slandered,  but 
comforted  by  her  friendships,  and  ever  praying,  "  Only  make 


Lay  Helpers. 


151 


me   what  thou  wouldst  have   me   to  be,  and   then   lead  me  as 
thou  wilt." 

We  have  seen  that  Wesley  reeognized  the  "extraordinary 
call  "  of  Sarah  Crosby  and  Mrs.  Fletcher  as  preachers.  Later 
we  find  him  giving  even  more  decided  encouragement  to  Miss 
Mallet  (afterward  Mrs.  Boyce),  whom  he  met  at  Long  Stratton, 
in  Norfolk,  and  of  whose  remarkable  experience  he  gives  an 


'^,  [i  ifi  i 


^  **■**lu«.^s;^^^^^*5^ 


Cross  Hall. 

The  Home  of  Mary  Bosanquet  Fletcher. 

account  in  his  Journal.  He  became  to  her,  as  she  well  says, 
"a  father  and  a  faithful  friend."  Her  own  Journal  is  so  sug- 
gestive and  terse  that  it  must  tell  its  own  story:  "When  I 
first  traveled  I  followed  Mr.  Wesley's  counsel,  which  was  to 
let  the  voice  of  the  people  be  to  me  the  voice  of  God,  and 
where  I  was  sent  for,  to  go,  for  the  Lord  had  called  me  thither. 
To  this  counsel  I  have  attended  unto  this  day.  But  the  voice 
of  the  people  was  not  the  voice  of  some  preachers.  Mr.  Wesley 
soon  made  this  easy  by  sending  me  a  note  from  the  Conference 


152  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

by  Mr.  Joseph  Harper,  which  was  as  follows:  'We  give  the 
right  hand  of  fellowship  to  Sarah  Mallet,  and  have  no  ob- 
jection to  her  being  a  preacher  in  our  connection  so  long  as  she 
preaches  the  Methodist  doctrine  and  attends  to  our  discipline.' 
This  was  the  order  of  Mr.  Wesley  and  the  Conference  of  1787. 
From  that  day  I  have  been  little  opposed  by  preachers." 

Another  of  the  prophesying  daughters  of  Methodism  was 
Mrs.  Ann  Gilbert,  who  consulted  John  Wesley,  about  177 1, 
as  to  her  public  work.  He  took  her  by  the  hand,  saying  only, 
"  vSister,  do  all  the  good  you  can."  One  minister,  who  heard 
her  preach  in  Redruth  Chapel  to  fourteen  hundred  people,  said 
that  she  had  a  torrent  of  softening  eloquence  which  occasioned 
a  general  weeping  through  the  whole  congregation ;  and,  what 
was  more  astonishing,  she  was  blind,  and  had  been  so  for  many 
years.  The  Rev.  W.  Warrener,  the  first  missionary  to  the 
West  Indies,  was  converted  under  the  preaching  of  another 
good  woman.  Miss  Hurrell;  and  Mrs.  Holder,  Mrs.  E.  Collett, 
Mrs.  De  Putron,  and  Mrs.  Sarah  Stevens,  all  of  them  ministers' 
wives,  were  preachers. 


Two  Sorts  of  Methodists,  153 


CHAPTER  XL 

Two  Sorts  of  Methodists. 

Whitefield's  Calvinism. — Arminians. — "The  Queen  of  the  Methodists. 
Trevecca  College.  —  Lady  Huntingdon's  Connection. — Time  Heals 
the  Wounds. — Whitefield's  Candle  Burns  to  the  Socket. 


at 


HILE  John  Wesley  was  organizing  societies  and 
building  preaching  houses  in  England,  George  White- 
field  was  ranging  through  the  American  colonies 
kindling  the  old  churches  into  new  zeal  by  his  flaming  elo- 
quence. He  returned  to  England  in  March,  1741,  prepared  to 
take  issue  with  his  former  leader  on  the  doctrine  of  election. 
His  intercourse  with  the  New  England  Calvinists  had  made  him 
a  militant  opponent  of  the  doctrine  of  universal  redemption  as 
taught  by  the  Wesleys.  Some  of  the  new  societies  had  already 
split  upon  this  rock,  even  John  Cennick,  the  schoolmaster  at 
Kingswood,  having  seceded  and  urged  Whitefield  to  return 
from  America  in  order  to  defend  the  doctrine. 

To  Wesley's  intensely  practical  mind  the  main  reason  for 
opposing  the  Calvinistic  theories  was  what  he  considered  to 
be  their  tendency  to  antinomianism.  To  check  the  progress  of 
what  he  felt  to  be  dangerous  error,  he  preached  and  published 
his  famous  sermon  on  Free  Grace — the  third  sermon  that  he 
had  published.  On  reading  this  sermon  and  Charles  Wesley's 
appended  hymn,  Whitefield  attacked  it  in  a  pamphlet  "  Letter 
to  John  Wesley,"  which  was  disfigured  by  the  personalities  and 
bad  logic  of  the  overmatched  debater. 

About  six  weeks  before  his  arrival  in  England  some  one 
obtained  a  copy  of  an  abusive  private  letter  he  had  sent  to 


154  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

Wesley  in  1740  and  circulated  it  at  the  doors  of  the  Foundry. 
Wesley  heard  of  this,  and  having  procured  a  copy,  tore  it  in 
pieces  before  the  assembled  congregation,  declaring  that  he 
believed  Whitefield  would  have  done  the  same.  In  two  min- 
utes the  whole  congregation  had  followed  his  example,  and  all 
the  copies  were  torn  to  tatters. 

When  Whitefield  reached  England,  in  March,  1741,  and 
preached  at  Kennington  Common,  he  was  greatly  distressed  to 
find  that  his  letters  to  Wesley  had  alienated  many  of  his  friends. 
He  did  not  refrain,  however,  from  preaching  against  the  Wes- 
leys,  by  name,  at  Moorfields.  His  old  friends,  nevertheless, 
invited  him  to  preach  at  the  Foundry,  but  with  Charles  Wesley 
by  his  side  he  there  proclaimed  the  Absolute  Decrees  in  the 
most  offensive  manner,  and  it  was  evident,  as  Wesley  says,  that 
"there  were  now  two  sorts  of  Methodists — those  for  particular 
and  those  for  general  redemption. " 

It  is  not  necessary  to  enter  into  all  the  details  of  the  painful 
but  important  controversy.  It  is  far  pleasanter  to  record  that 
in  course  of  time  the  personal  breach  between  the  evangelists 
was  entirely  healed,  although  both  held  fast  their  own  opinions, 
and  the  living  stream  of  Methodism  was  divided  into  two  cur- 
rents. "  One  branch,"  says  Bishop  McTyeire,  "  after  refresh- 
ing and  enriching  a  dry  and  thirsty  land,  is  absorbed  and  lost ; 
the  other,  with  well-defined  and  widening  banks  and  deepening 
current,  flows  on." 

Howell  Harris,  the  warm-hearted  Welsh  Calvinist,  and  Lady 
Huntingdon  found  Wesley  ready  to  forgive  Whitefield's  impet- 
uous personal  abuse,  and  one  of  the  noblest  characteristics  of 
Whitefield  was  revealed  in  his  willingness  to  confess  his  faults. 
He  wrote  to  Wesley  in  October,  1741:  "May  God  remove  all 
obstacles  that  now  prevent  our  union;  may  all  disputings  cease, 
and  each  of  us  talk  of  nothing  but  Jesus  and  him  crucified. 
This  is  my  resolution.     I  am  without  dissimulation.     I  find  I 


The  Rev.  George  Whitefield,  A.M. 
Chaplain  to  the  Countess  of  Huntingdon. 


Two  Sorts  of  Methodists.  157 

love  you  as  much  as  ever,  and  pray  God,  if  it  be  his  blessed 
will,  that  we  may  all  be  united  together. " 

Later  Wesley's  pardon  was  asked  for  the  unnecessary  and 
offensive  taunts  of  the  widely  circulated  letter.  In  a  pamphlet 
of  some  years  later  Whitefield  made  the  following  frank  con- 
fession: "It  was  wrong  in  me  to  publish  a  private  transaction 
to  the  world,  and  very  ill-judged  to  think  the  glory  of  God 
could  be  promoted  by  unnecessarily  exposing  my  friend.  For 
this  I  have  asked  both  God  and  him  pardon  years  ago,  and 
though  I  believe  both  have  forgiven  me,  yet  I  believe  I  shall 
never  be  able  to  forgive  myself;  my  mistakes  have  been  too 
many  and  my  blunders  too  frequent  to  make  me  set  up  for  infal- 
libility. But  many  and  frequent  as  my  mistakes  have  been  or 
may  be,  as  I  have  no  part  to  act — if  I  know  anything  of  my 
heart — but  to  promote  God's  glory  and  the  good  of  souls,  as 
soon  as  I  am  made  aware  of  them  they  shall  be  publicly  acknowl- 
edged and  retracted." 

Whitefield  soon  regained  his  popularity.  Evangelical  Calvin- 
ists,  mostly  Dissenters,  rallied  round  him  and  built  his  first 
tabernacle  in  Moorfields  not  far  from  the  Foundry.  It  was 
only  a  large,  rough  wooden  shed,  but  for  twelve  years  it  was 
Whitefield's  metropolitan  cathedral  and  was  the  scene  of  great 
spiritual  victories. 

A  few  months  later  Whitefield  sent  Cennick  a  contribution 
of  ^20,  from  a  lady,  toward  a  chapel  at  Kingswood,  which  still 
stands.  Like  Wesley,  he  began  to  employ  lay  evangelists. 
Howell  Harris  was  soon  preaching  in  the  Moorfields  tabernacle. 

The  Wesleyan  Methodists  now  became  distinguished  from 
the  followers  of  Whitefield  as  Arminians.  The  Arminian  or, 
rather,  Remonstrant,  Confession  arose  in  Holland  about  the 
beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century  as  a  protest  against  Cal- 
vinism. The  principle  of  the  Arminian  type  of  doctrine  was 
the  universality  of  the  benefit  of  the  atonement  and  the  restored 


158  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

freedom  of  the  human  will.  The  Wesleyan  Methodists,  how- 
ever, rejected  the  teaching  of  the  immediate  successors  of 
Arminius,  who  were  tinged  with  Socinianism  and  rationalism, 
and  Wesleyans,  as  Pope  says,  were  Arminians  as  opposed  to 
Calvinists,  but  in  no  other  sense. 

The  pillar  and  prop  of  Whitefield  and  his  Calvinistic  follow- 
ers was  Selina,  Countess  of  Huntingdon,  one  of  the  most  notable 
figures  in  Methodist  history,  the  woman  who  won  from  her 
fashionable  friend,  Horace  Walpole,  the  half-ironical  title, 
"  Queen  of  the  Methodists."  This  peeress,  the  daughter  of  the 
Earl  of  Ferrars,  was  four  years  younger  than  John  Wesley. 
Being  naturally  of  a  serious  mind,  her  impressions  were  deep- 
ened by  the  experience  of  her  sister.  Lady  Margaret  Hastings, 
who  had  been  converted  by  Ingham,  the  Oxford  Methodist. 
She,  too,  experienced  the  joy  of  full  acceptance  in  Christ, 
became  a  hearer  of  Whitefield  and  an  attendant  at  the  Foundry. 
Although  she  sided  with  Whitefield  in  the  Calvinistic  contro- 
versy, she  was  largely  instrumental  in  bringing  about  the  recon- 
ciliation of  the  leaders,  and  became  a  devoted  friend  of  Mrs. 
Charles  Wesley. 

It  required  much  more  courage  to  face  the  prejudices  and 
ridicule  of  her  class,  but  it  is  to  the  credit  of  the  nobility 
that  they  learned  to  respect  Lady  Huntingdon's  character  and 
motives,  though  only  a  few  followed  her  example.  She  suc- 
ceeded in  persuading  the  most  distinguished  men  and  women 
of  her  day  to  meet  in  her  drawing-room  at  Chelsea,  or  her 
chapel  at  Bath,  or  in  Whitefield's  Tabernacle  itself,  to  hear  her 
favorite  preachers.  The  lists  of  illustrious  persons  given  by 
her  biographers  make  some  pages  look  like  a  court  directory. 

There  is  evidence  that  even  in  the  corrupt  court  of  the  second 
George  it  was  felt  that  Lady  Huntingdon  had  chosen  the  better 
part.  One  day  at  court,  we  are  told,  the  Prince  of  Wales 
inquired   where    Lady  Huntingdon    was,  that  she   so   seldom 


Selina,  Countess  of  Huntingdon. 

Called  "The  Queen  of  the  Methodists." 


Two  Sorts  of  Methodists.  i6i 

visited  the  circle  now.  Lady  Charlotte  Edwin  replied  with  a 
sneer,  "I  suppose  praying  with  her  beggars."  The  prince 
shook  his  head  and  said,  "  Lady  Charlotte,  when  I  am  dying  I 
think  I  shall  be  happy  to  seize  the  skirt  of  Lady  Huntingdon's 
mantle  to  lift  me  up  with  her  to  heaven." 

Lady  Huntingdon's  personal  character  deserved  and  won  the 
deepest  respect.  An  Anglican  writer  has  well  said  that  the 
moral  courage  which  enabled  a  lady,  brought  up  among  all 
the  traditions  of  an  aristocracy  such  as  the  aristocracy  was  in 
the  reigns  of  George  II  and  George  III,  to  cast  aside  all  the 
prejudices  of  her  order,  and  brave  all  the  contempt  and  ridicule 
of  those  with  whom  she  would  naturally  be  most  brought  into 
contact,  and  cast  in  her  lot  openly  and  without  reserve  with 
the  despised  Methodists,  is  admirable.  If  she  seems  at  times 
to  adopt  a  somewhat  imperious  air  toward  her  proteges,  we 
must  remember  that  a  countess  was  a  countess  in  those  days, 
and  that  she  was  certainly  encouraged  in  the  line  she  took  by 
the  extravagant  homage  paid  to  her  by  Whitefield  and  others. 
John  Wesley,  indeed,  was  never  dazzled  by  her  grandeur;  on 
the  contrary,  he  took  upon  him  more  than  once  to  rebuke  the 
imperiousness  of  ''that  valuable  woman."  Berridge,  of  Ever- 
ton,  rebelled  in  his  own  laughing  way  against  her  authority; 
and  there  is  not  the  slightest  trace  of  undue  subserviency  in  the 
clergy,  like  Romaine  and  Henry  Venn  and  others,  who  acted 
with  rather  than  under  her.  But  the  majority  of  those  who 
were  connected  with  her  could  not  fail  to  be  dazzled  by 
the  honor  of  the  connection;  and  not  only  submitted,  but 
courted,  the  authority  which  she  was  not  slack  in  assuming  over 
them. 

But  she  used  that  authority  for  the  highest  purposes.     She 

was  as  far  removed  as  John  Wesley  from  any  love  of  power  for 

power's  sake.      She  devoted  her  fortune  to  her  new  work.    The 

.sale  of  her  jewels  contributed  to  the  building  of  a  chapel  at 

11 


l62 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


Brighton.  She  erected  or  pvirchased  buildings  in  many  places, 
appointing  ministers  as  she  thought  fit — revoking  such  appoint- 
ments at  her  pleasure.     The  united  congregations  were  called 


The  Last  Resting  Place  of  Lady  Huntingdon. 
Church  of  St.  Helen's,  Ashby.  The  Huntingdon  Family  Tombs. 

"Lady  Huntingdon's  Connection."  Over  the  affairs  of  this 
connection  she  ruled  with  much  tact  until  her  death,  appoint- 
ing committees  of  laymen  to  superintend  secular  business. 


Two  Sorts  of  Methodists.  163 

There  was  a  great  stir  at  the  universities  in  1767.  A  little 
band  of  Methodists  had  been  formed  in  Cambridge  under  Row- 
land Hill.  At  Oxford,  Halward,  of  Worcester  College,  formed 
an  evangelical  "  Holy  Club,"  with  the  result  that  six  students 
of  St.  Edmund's  Hall,  Oxford,  were  expelled,  after  due  trial, 
"  for  holding  Methodist  tenets,  and  taking  upon  them  to  pray, 
read,  and  expound  the  Scriptures  in  private  houses."  The 
Oxford  authorities  as  well  as  the  public  journals  accused  Lady 
Huntingdon  of  "seducing  ^^oung  men  from  their  respective 
trades  and  avocations  and  sending  them  to  the  university,  where 
they  were  maintained  at  her  expense,  that  they  might  after- 
ward skulk." 

The  resolute  countess  had  already  consulted  Wesley  about  a 
scheme  for  the  education  of  preachers,  and  she  decided  at  once 
to  build  a  college  of  her  own. 

On  the  site  of  an  old  castle  in  South  Wales  she  built  Tre- 
vecca  College.  It  was  opened  in  1768,  John  Fletcher,  the 
saintly  Methodist  clergyman  of  Madeley,  was  president,  and 
Joseph  Benson  was  head  master,  until  the  Calvinistic  sympathies 
of  the  countess  led  to  their  retirement.  She  resided  at  the  col- 
lege for  many  months  in  the  year,  and  "  stationed"  the  students; 
some  going  to  Ireland,  others  to  America,  but  the  greater 
number  supplying  her  chapels  in  Great  Britain. 

Lady  Huntingdon  maintained  her  leadership  of  her  con- 
nection with  undiminished  vigor.  Her  chapels  at  Bath  and 
Brighton  were  always  full.  About  the  middle  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century  Tunbridge  Wells  became  a  more  popular 
resort  than  either  of  these  places,  and  she  forthwith  built  a 
chapel  there  which  Whitefield  opened  with  one  of  his  thrilling 
sermons. 

Lady  Huntingdon's  societies,  like  Wesley's,  drifted  away 
rather  than  separated  of  set  purpose  from  the  Established 
Church.      She  was  compelled  to  become  a  practical  Dissenter 


164 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist, 


in  the  interests  of  her  noble  evangelistic  work.  The  crisis  in 
her  case,  however,  came  earlier  than  in  Wesley's.  The  step 
was  not  taken  hastily,  but  after   repeated  provocations,   legal 


'mSkm^i^f^fi^),u^i't^.^i£^ 


Trevecca  Farmhouse. 


Trevecca  College. 


Here    John    Wesley,   John     Fletcher     and         Opened  by  Lady  Huntingdon,  1768, 
George  Whitefield  stayed  when  they  now  controlled  by  the  Cal- 

went  to  open  Trevecca  College,  1768.  vinistic  Methodists. 

decisions,  and  with  a  pure  desire  to  secure  the  preaching  of 
the  Gospel,  The  clergymen  who  preached  in  her  chapels  were 
silenced  by  the  Anglican  authorities  in  1781,  and  she  was  forced 


Two  Sorts  of   Methodists.  165 

with  bitter  pain  to  withdraw  from  the  Church  to  which  she  had 
been  so  loyal. 

It  is  gratifying  to  record  that  Lady  Huntingdon  lived  to 
regret  the  spirit  of  the  Calvinistic  controversy.  She  survived 
Mr.  Wesley  about  five  months.  After  his  death  a  small  tract 
was  published  containing  the  particulars  of  his  last  illness,  and 
the  expressions  to  which  he  then  gave  utterance.  Lady  Hun- 
tingdon read  it  with  great  interest,  and  sending  for  Joseph  Brad- 
ford, asked  him  if  this  account  was  true,  and  if  Mr.  Wesley 
really  died  acknowledging  his  sole  dependence  upon  the  meri- 
torious sacrifice  of  Christ  for  acceptance  and  eternal  life.  He 
answered  her  ladyship  that  this  was  so,  and  that  from  his  own 
knowledge  he  could  declare,  whatever  reports  to  the  contrary 
had  been  circulated,  that  the  principles  which  Mr.  Wesley 
recognized  upon  his  deathbed  had  invariably  been  the  subject 
of  his  ministry.  She  listened  with  eager  attention  to  this  state- 
ment, confessed  that  she  had  believed  that  he  had  grievously 
departed  from  the  truth,  and  then,  bursting  into  tears, 
expressed  her  deep  regret  at  the  separation  which  had  in  con- 
sequence taken  place  between  them.  She  died  at  the  age  of 
eighty- four,  in  the  Chapel  House,  Spa  Fields,  June  17,  1791, 
and  was  buried  at  Ashby-de-la-Zouch,  clothed  with  the  white 
silk  dress  in  which-  she  opened  the  chapel  in  Goodman's  Fields. 
"I  long  to  be  at  home.  I  shall  go  to  my  Father;  can  he  forget 
to  be  gracious?  Is  there  any  end  of  his  loving-kindness?  My 
work  is  done.  I  have  nothing  to  do  but  goto  my  Father, " 
were  among  her  last  words. 

Dr.  Haweis,  his  wife,  Lady  Anne  Erskine,  and  a  lay  gentle- 
man were  appointed  trustees  of  the  chapels,  houses,  and  other 
effects  of  Lady  Huntingdon's  Connection;  and  they  were  to 
appoint  successors. 

For  thirty-one  years,  from  the  date  of  his  conversion  (1739) 
to  his  death,  in  1770,  Whitefield  traveled  and  preached  with 


i66  -  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

such  consuming  energy  that  the  attempt  to  follow  him  produces 
a  sensation  of  breathlessness.  In  1744  he  made  his  third  visit 
to  America,  remaining  four  years;  his  fourth  visit  was  in  1751, 
less  than  one  year;  the  fifth  in  1754,  a  little  over  a  year;  the 
sixth  in  1763,  lasting  about  two  years;  his  last  in  1769. 

Whitefield's  Tabernacle,  in  Tottenham  Court  Road,  London, 
was  opened  in  1756.  Beneath  it  were  vaults,  "where,"  White- 
field  used  to  say  to  his  somewhat  bigoted  congregation,  ' '  I 
intend  to  be  buried,  and  Messrs.  John  and  Charles  Wesley 
shall  also  be  buried  there.  We  will  all  lie  together.  You  will 
not  let  them  enter  your  chapel  while  they  are  alive.  They  can 
do  you  no  harm  when  they  are  dead."  He  continued  to  do  the 
work  of  an  evangelist  to  the  last  in  England,  Scotland,  and 
America,  besides  conducting  an  enormous  correspondence. 

During  the  last  four  years  of  his  life  in  England  Whitefield's 
friendship  with  the  Wesleys  became  very  warm.  John  Wesley 
breakfasted  with  him,  and  sadly  writes  of  him  as  "an  old,  old 
man,  fairly  worn  out  in  his  Master's  service,  though  he  has 
hardly  seen  fifty  years;"  and  a  month  later:  "Mr.  Whitefield 
called  upon  me.  He  breathes  nothing  but  peace  and  love. 
Bigotry  cannot  stand  before  him,  but  hides  its  head  wherever 
he  comes."  And  in  a  letter  to  his  wife  Charles  Wesley  wrote 
of  two  happy  hours  he  and  his  brother  spent  with  their 
old  friend.  "The  threefold  cord  we  trust  will  never  more  be 
broken. " 

In  1769  he  made  his  last  voyage,  and  after  revisiting  the 
scenes  of  his  Gospel  triumphs  from  Georgia  to  New  England, 
died  at  Newburyport,  Mass.,  September  30,  1770,  "suddenly 
changing, "  as  the  quaint  epitaph  has  it,  ' '  his  life  of  unparalleled 
labors  for  his  eternal  rest." 

In  compliance  with  Whitefield's  expressed  wish,  John  Wes- 
ley preached  his  funeral  sermon  in  Tottenham  Court  Road 
Chapel,  and  Charles  Wesley,  who  had  introduced  the  humble 


Two  Sorts  of  Methodists. 


167 


Oxford  servitor  to  the  Holy  Club  years  before,  wrote  an  elegy 
full  of  tender  feeling  upon  the  death  of  his  friend. 

What    is    probably  the    true  version  of  a   story  concerning 
Wesley's  warm  friendship  for  Whitefield  was  sent  to  the  editor 


The  Whitefield  Cenotaph. 
In  the  South  Presbyterian  Church,  Newburyport,  Mass. 

of  the  Contemporary  Review,  in  1S91,  by  Mr.  Bevan  Braith- 
waite,  che  venerable  representative  of  the  Society  of  Friends 
at  the  centenary  celebration  of  Wesley's  death.  Mr.  Braith- 
waite  heard  it  from  Edward  Pease  (the  friend  and  early  patron 
of  George  Stephenson),  who  died  in  1857  at  the  advanced  age 


1 68  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

of  ninety-two.  He  was  fond  of  relating  how  in  early  manhood 
he  had  stolen  into  a  chapel  to  hear  Wesley  preach,  and  had  a 
distinct  recollection  of  his  personal  appearance  and  earnest 
solemnity  of  manner.      The  following  was  his  story: 

"One  day,  after  Whitefield's  decease,  John  Wesley  was 
timidly  approached  by  one  of  the  godly  band  of  Christian  sis- 
ters who  had  been  brought  under  his  influence,  and  who  loved 
both  Whitefield  and  himself: 

"  '  Dear  Mr.  Wesley,   may  I  ask  you  a  question?' 

"  'Yes,  of  course,  madam,  by  all  means.' 

"  'But,  dear  Mr.  Wesley,  I  am  very  much  afraid  what  the 
answer  will  be. ' 

"  'Well,  madam,  let  me  hear  your  question,  and  then  you  will 
know  my  reply.' 

"At  last,  after  not  a  little  hesitation,  the  inquirer  trem- 
blingly asked,  '  Dear  Mr.  Wesley,  do  you  expect  to  see  dear  Mr. 
Whitefield  in  heaven?' 

"A  lengthy  pause  followed,  after  which  John  Wesley  replied 
with  great  seriousness,  '  No,  madam. ' 

"His  inquirer  at  once  exclaimed,  'Ah,  I  was  afraid  you 
would  say  so.' 

"To  which  John  Wesley  added,  with  intense  earnestness, 
'  Do  not  misunderstand  me,  madam ;  George  Whitefield  was 
so  bright  a  star  in  the  firmament  of  God's  glory,  and  will  stand 
so  near  the  throne,  that  one  like  me,  who  am  less  than  the 
least,  will  never  catch  a  glimpse  of  him.'  " 


Wesley  Faces  Mobs.  169 


CHAPTER  XIL 

Wesley  Faces  Mobs* 

The  Wednesbury  Riots.— Before  the  Magistrate. —A  Noble  Champion.— 

"Always  Look  a  Mob  in  the  Face."— Stoned  at  the  Market 

Cross. —Causes  of  the  Disturbance.— Quieter  Times. 

•  HE  Wesleys  had  been  censured  by  bisliops,  cursed  by 
High  Church  clergy,  and  slandered  by  a  host  of  pam- 
phleteers. But  this  stormy  course  of  violent  words 
was  only  the  prelude  to  the  ferocious  attacks  of  the  mobs  which 
came,  like  wild  beasts,  howling  on  their  track  in  the  moral  wil- 
derness of  England. 

The  "  Black  Country,"  in  the  northern  part  of  Staffordshire, 
was  the  scene  of  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  violent  persecu- 
tions. The  towns  of  Wednesbury,  Walsall,  and  Darlaston  had 
won  for  themselves  an  unenviable  notoriety  for  lawlessness. 
The  brutal  sports  of  these  towns  reflected  the  moral  condition 
of  the  people.  Btill  baiting  and  cockfighting  provided  scenes 
of  riotous  delight. 

Charles  Wesley  was  the  first  Methodist  who  preached  at 
Wednesbury,  in  November,  1742.  John  soon  followed,  and 
a  society  of  one  hundred  members,  increased  to  more  than 
three  hundred  by  the  following  May,  was  speedily  formed. 
The  storm  soon  broke.  Charles  preached  in  May  at  Walsall 
from  the  steps  of  the  market  house,  the  mob  roaring,  shouting, 
and  throwing  stones  incessantly,  many  of  which  struck  him, 
but  none  hurt  him. 

Soon  after  this  the  rioters  of  the  three  towns  turned  out  in 
force  and  smashed  windows,   furniture,   and  houses.     People 


170  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

were  promiscuously  struck  and  bruised.  The  magistrates,  on 
being  appealed  to  by  the  Methodists  for  protection,  told  them 
they  were  themselves  to  blame  for  the  outrages,  and  refused  all 
assistance. 

Wesley,  in  London,  received  a  full  account  of  this  terrible 
six-days'  riot,  and  thus  writes:  "  I  was  not  surprised  at  all; 
neither  should  1  have  wondered  if,  after  the  advices  they  had 
so  often  received  from  the  pulpit  as  well  as  from  the  episcopal 
chair,  the  zealous  High  Churchmen  had  risen  and  cut  all  that 
were  Methodists  in  pieces!  " 

Wesley  proceeded  at  once  to  the  scene  to  render  what  assist- 
ance he  could.  But  no  redress  could  be  obtained.  In  October 
he  went  again  to  this  den  of  wild  beasts.  While  he  was  writ- 
ing at  Francis  Ward's  the  mob  beset  the  house  and  cried, 
"Bring  out  the  minister;  we  will  have  the  minister!"  Wes- 
ley asked  some  one  to  take  their  captain  by  the  hand  and  lead 
him  in.  After  a  few  words  the  lion  became  a  lamb.  Wesley 
now  asked  him  to  bring  two  of  the  bitterest  opponents  inside. 
He  soon  returned  with  a  couple  who  "were  ready  to  swallow 
the  ground  with  rage ;  but  in  two  minutes  they  were  as  calm 
as  he."  Then,  mounting  a  chair  in  the  midst  of  the  mob,  he 
demanded,  "  What  do  any  of  you  want  with  me?  " 

Some  said,  amid  the  clamor,  "We  want  you  to  go  with  us  to 
the  justice." 

"  That  I  will,"  said  Wesley,   "with  all  my  heart." 

The  few  words  he  added  had  such  an  eiTect  that  the  mob 
shouted,  "The  gentleman  is  an  honest  gentleman,  and  we  will 
spill  our  blood  in  his  defense. " 

Some  dispersed  to  their  homes,  but  Wesley  and  the  rest, 
some  two  or  three  hundred,  set  out  for  the  magistrate's  house. 
Darkness  and  heavy  rain  came  on  in  about  half  an  hour,  or  by 
the  time  they  had  walked  a  mile,  but  they  pushed  forward 
another  mile,  to  the  justice's  house  at  Bentley  Hall.     Some  of 


Wesley  Faces  Mobs.  171 

the  advance  guard  told  that  officer,  Mr.  Lane,  that  they  were 
bringing  Wesley. 

"What  have  I  to  do  with  Mr.  Wesley?"  quoth  the  magis- 
trate.     "  Take  him  back  again. " 

When  the  crowd  came  up  and  knocked  for  admission  the 
magistrate  declined  to  see  them,  sending  word  that  he  was  in 
bed.  His  son  came  out  and  asked  their  business.  A  spokes- 
man answered,  "To  be  plain,  sir,  if  I  must  speak  the  truth, 
all  the  fault  I  find  with  him  is  that  he  preaches  better  than  our 
parsons." 

Another  said:  "  Sir,  it  is  a  downright  shame;  he  makes  peo- 
ple rise  at  five  in  the  morning  to  sing  psalms.  What  advice 
would  your  worship  give  i\s?  " 

"To  go  home,"  said  young  Lane,  "and  be  quiet." 

Not  getting  much  satisfaction  there,  they  now  hurried  Wes- 
ley to  Walsall,  to  Justice  Persehouse.  Although  it  was  only 
about  seven  o'clock,  he  also  sent  word  that  he  had  gone  to  bed, 
and  refused  to  see  them.  Yet  these  very  magistrates  had 
recently  issued  an  order  calling  on  all  officers  of  justice  to 
search  for  and  bring  before  them  any  Methodist  preacher 
found  in  the  district. 

At  last  they  all  thought  it  wise  to  make  their  way  home, 
and  some  fifty  of  the  crowd  undertook  to  convey  Wesley  back 
to  Wednesbury.  But  they  had  not  gone  a  hundred  yards  when 
the  mob  of  Walsall  burst  upon  them.  They  showed  fight,  but, 
being  wearied  and  greatly  outnumbered,  were  soon  overpow- 
ered, and  Wesley  was  left  in  the  hands  of  his  new  enemies. 
Some  tried  to  seize  him  by  the  collar  and  pull  him  down.  A 
big,  lusty  fellow  just  behind  him  struck  at  him  several  times 
with  an  oaken  club.  If  one  of  these  blows  had  taken  effect,  as 
Wesley  says,  "it  would  have  saved  all  further  trouble.  But 
every  time  the  blow  was  turned  aside,  I  know  not  how,  for  I 
could  not  move  to  the  right  hand  or  left.**     Another,  rushing 


172  John  Wesley   the  Methodist. 

through  the  crowd,  Hfted  his  arm  to  strike,  but  on  a  sudden 
let  it  drop  and  only  stroked  Wesley's  head,  saying,  "What  soft 


John  Wesley,  the  Founder  of  Kingswood. 
The  original  is  preserved  in  the  dining  hall  o£  the  new  Kingswood  School,  Bath. 

hair  he  has!  "  One  man  struck  him  on  the  breast,  and  another 
on  the  mouth  with  such  force  that  the  blood  gushed  out;  but 
he  felt  no  more  pain,  he  affirms,  from  either  than  if  they  had 


Wesley  Faces  Mobs.  173 

touched  him  with  a  straw;  not,  certainly,  because  he  was  over 
excited  or  alarmed,  for  he  assures  us  that  from  the  beginning 
to  the  end  he  was  enabled  to  maintain  as  much  presence  of 
mind  as  if  he  had  been  sitting  in  his  study,  but  his  thoughts 
were  entirely  absorbed  in  watching  the  movements  of  the 
rioters. 

When  he  had  been  pulled  to  the  west  end  of  the  town,  seeing 
a  door  half  open — which  proved,  strangely  enough,  to  be  the 
mayor's,  though  he  did  not  know  it — he  made  toward  it  to  go 
in ;  but  the  owner,  who  was  inside,  would  not  suffer  it,  saying 
the  mob  would  pull  the  house  down  to  the  ground.  However, 
Wesley  stood  at  the  door,  and  raising  his  voice  to  the  maddened 
throng,  asked,  "  Are  you  willing  to  hear  me  speak?"  Many 
cried  out,  "No I  No!  Knock  his  brains  out!  Down  with 
him!  Kill  him  at  once!"  Others  said,  "Nay,  but  we  will 
hear  him  first!  "  Then  he  spoke  a  while,  until  his  voice  sud- 
denly failed.  Now  the  cry  was:  "Bring  him  away!  Bring 
him  away  !  "  Recovering  his  strength,  ne  began  to  pray  aloud. 
Then  the  ruffian  who  had  headed  the  rabble,  a  prize  fighter  at 
the  bear  garden,  stnick  with  awe,  turned  and  said:  "Sir,  I 
will  spend  my  life  for  you!  Follow  me,  and  not  one  soul  here 
shall  touch  a  hair  of  your  head  !  "  Others  of  his  companions 
joined  with  him  in  this  new  departure.  An  honest  butcher 
also  interposed  and  thrust  away  four  or  five  of  the  most  violent 
assailants.  The  people  fell  back  to  the  right  and  left,  and  in 
the  charge  of  his  new-found  protectors  Wesley  was  borne 
through  the  infuriated  crowd  and  escorted  to  his  lodgings  at 
Wednesbury,  having  lost  only  one  flap  of  his  waistcoat  and  a 
little  skin  from  one  of  his  hands.  He  says  concerning  it:  "I 
took  no  thought  for  one  moment  before  another;  only  once  it 
came  into  my  mind  that,  if  they  should  throw  me  into  the  river, 
it  would  spoil  the  papers  that  were  in  my  pocket.  For  myself, 
I  did  not  doubt  but  I  should  swim  across,  having  but  a  thin 


174  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

coat  and  a  light  pair  of  boots."  "  I  never  saw  such  a  chain  of 
providences  before ;  so  many  convincing  proofs  that  the  hand 
of  God  is  on  every  person  and  thing,  overruling  all  as  it  seem- 
eth  him  good. " 

In  the  midst  of  all  these  perils  four  brave  Methodists- 
William  Sitch,  Edward  Slater,  John  Griffith,  and  Joan  Parks- 
clung  fast  to  Wesley's  side,  resolved  to  live  or  die  with  him. 
None  received  a  blow  save  William,  who  was  knocked  down, 
but  soon  got  up  again.  When  Wesley  asked  William  Sitch 
what  he  expected  when  the  mob  seized  them  he  answered  with 
a  martyr's  spirit,  "  To  die  for  him  who  died  for  us. "  And  when 
Joan  Parks  was  asked  if  she  was  not  afraid  she  said:  "  No,  no 
more  than  I  am  now.  I  could  trust  God  for  you  as  well  as  for 
myself." 

When  Wesley  reached  Wednesbury  the  friends  were  praying 
for  him  in  the  house  from  which  he  had  started.  His  suffer- 
ings awoke  general  sympathy.  Next  morning,  as  he  rode 
through  the  town,  he  says,  "  Everyone  I  met  expressed  such  a 
cordial  affection  that  I  could  scarce  believe  what  I  saw  and 
heard."  Charles  Wesley  met  him  at  Nottingham.  He  says 
his  brother  "looked  like  a  soldier  of  Christ.  His  clothes  were 
torn  to  tatters."  Charles  went  straight  from  Nottingham  to 
the  scenes  of  the  rioting,  boldly  bearding  the  lions  in  their  den. 
He  was  constitutionally  a  timid  man,  as  he  often  confesses, 
but  there  was  nothing  he  feared  so  much  as  to  offend  his  own 
conscience. 

He  arrived  at  Wednesbury  five  days  after  the  miraculous 
escape  of  his  brother,  and  found  the  Methodists  "standing 
fast  in  one  mind  and  spirit,  in  nothing  terrified  by  their  adver- 
saries. "  He  writes:  "We  assembled  before  day  to  sing  hymns 
to  Christ  as  God.  As  soon  as  it  was  light  I  walked  down  the 
town  and  preached.  .  .  .  It  was  a  most  glorious  time."  The 
clergyman  at  Darlaston  was  so  struck  with  the  meek  behavior 


Wesley  Faces  Mobs.  175 

of  the  Methodists  in  the  midst  of  suffering  that  he  offered  to 
join  the  Wesleys  in  punishing  the  rioters.  As  for  ' '  honest 
Munchin, "  the  nickname  for  George  Chfton,  the  captain  of  the 
rabble,  who  had  rescued  Wesley,  he  was  so  impressed  with 
Wesley's  spirit  that  he  immediately  forsook  his  godless,  profli- 
gate gang,  and  was  received  on  trial  into  the  Methodist  society 
by  Charles.  The  latter  asked  him,  ' '  What  think  you  of  my 
brother  ?  "  "Think  of  him  ?  "  was  the  answer,  "  That  he  is  a 
mon  of  God ;  and  God  was  on  his  side,  when  so  mony  of  us 
could  not  kill  one  mon."  Clifton  lived  a  good  life  after  this, 
and  died  in  Birmingham,  aged  eighty-five,  in  1789,  two  years 
before  Wesley.  He  was  never  weary  of  telling  the  story  of 
that  night  when  he  might  have  taken  life,  had  not  God  stayed 
his  hand. 

It  was  John  Wesley's  rule,  confirmed,  he  says,  by  experi- 
ence, ''always  to.  look  a  mob  in  the  face."  An  indescribable 
dignity  in  his  bearing,  a  light  in  his  eyes,  and  a  spiritual  influ- 
ence pervading  his  whole  personality  often  overawed  and  cap- 
tured the  very  leaders  of  the  riots. 

At  St.  Ives,  in  Cornwall,  when  the  mob  attempted  to  break 
up  his  meeting,  he  says:  "  I  went  into  the  midst,  and  brought 
the  head  of  the  mob  up  with  me  to  the  desk.  I  received  but 
one  blow  on  the  side  of  the  head,  after  which  we  reasoned  the 
case,  till  he  grew  milder  and  milder,  and  at  length  undertook 
to  quiet  his  companions. "  A  similar  incident  is  recorded  a  few 
years  later  when  a  lieutenant  at  Plymouth-dock,  with  his  reti- 
nue of  soldiers  and  drummers,  headed  a  raging  crowd.  ' '  After 
waiting  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour,"  says  Wesley,  "perceiving 
the  violence  of  the  rabble  still  increasing,  I  walked  down  into  the 
thickest  of  them  and  took  the  captain  of  the  mob  by  the  hand. 
He  immediately  said:  '  Sir,  I  will  see  you  safe  home.  Sir,  no 
man  shall  touch  you.  Gentlemen,  stand  off  !  give  back !  I 
will  knock  down  the  first  man  that  touches  him ! '     We  walked 


176  John  Weslev  the  Methodist. 

on  in  great  peace,  my  conductor,  a  very  tall  man,  stretching- 
out  his  neck  and  looking  round  to  see  if  any  behaved  rudely, 
till  we  came  to  Mr.  Hide's  door.  We  then  parted  in  much  love. 
I  stayed  in  the  street,  after  he  was  gone,  talking  with  the  peo- 
ple who  had  now  forgot  their  anger  and  went  away  in  high 
good  humor." 

Sometimes  the  rioters  themselves  were  the  chief  sufferers 
from  the  missiles  and  clubs  so  freely  used.  Wesley  gives  a 
striking  instance  of  this  at  Bolton,  Lancashire,  when  he 
preached  at  the  Cross.  One  man  was  bawling  just  at  Wesley's 
ear,  "  when  a  stone  struck  him  on  the  cheek,  and  he  was  still." 
A  second  was  forcing  his  way  to  assault  Wesley,  when  another 
stone  hit  him  on  the  forehead,  "the  blood  ran  down,  and  he 
came  no  farther."  A  third  stretched  out  his  hand,  and  in  the 
instant  a  sharp  stone  came  upon  the  joints  of  his  fingers,  and 
he  was  "very  quiet  "  during  the  rest  of  the  discourse,  which 
was  finished  in  peace.  A  year  later,  in  the  same  town,  Wesley 
was  followed  "  full  cry  "  to  the  house  where  he  stayed.  A  rag- 
ing crowd  filled  the  street  and  took  possession  of  every  room  in 
the  house.  One  friend  who  ventured  out  was  thrown  down, 
rolled  in  the  mire,  and  thrust  back  in  such  a  state  that  "one 
could  scarce  tell  who  he  was."  Wesley  called  for  a  chair  and 
quietly  stood  upon  it.  "The  winds  were  hushed,  and  all  was 
calm  and  still.  My  heart  was  filled  with  love,  my  eyes  with 
tears,  and  my  mouth  with  arguments."  In  a  few  hours  the 
entire  scene  was  changed,  and  none  opened  their  mouths  unless 
to  bless  or  thank  the  Methodists! 

When  Wesley  was  preaching  at  Gwennap  two  men  raging 
like  maniacs  rode  furiously  into  the  midst  of  the  congregation 
and  began  to  lay  hold  upon  the  people.  Wesley  commenced 
singing,  and  one  man  cried  to  his  attendants,  "  Seize  him, 
seize  him,  I  say;  seize  the  preacher  for  his  majesty's  service." 
Cursing  the  servants  for  their  slowness,   he  leaped  from  his 


Wesley  Faces  Mobs. 


177 


horse,  caught  Wesley  by  the  cassock,  crying,  "I  take  you  to 
serve  his  majesty. "  Wesley  walked  with  him  three  quarters 
of  a  mile,  when  the  courage  of  the  bravo  failed,  and,  finding  he 


Wesley  Preaching  at  Bolton  Cross. 

was  dealing  with  a  gentleman,  he  offered  to  take  him  to  his 
house,  but  Wesley  declined   the  invitation.     The  man  called 
for  horses  and  took  Wesley  back  to  the  preaching  place. 
12 


178  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

The  next  day  at  Falmouth  more  serious  perils  awaited  him. 
The  rioters  attacked  the  house  where  he  was  staying,  and  the 
noise  was  like  "the  taking  of  a  city  by  storm."  The  outer 
door  was  forced;  only  a  wainscot  partition  was  between  them 
and  the  object  of  their  rage.  Wesley  calmly  took  down  a 
large  looking-glass  which  hung  against  the  partition.  The 
daughter,  Kitty,  cries  out,  "  O,  sir,  what  must  we  do?" 

"We  must  pray,"  he  replied. 

"  But,  sir,  is  it  not  better  for  you  to  hide  yourself  ?" 

"  No,"  said  Wesley.  "  It  is  best  for  me  to  stand  just  where 
lam." 

The  crews  of  some  privateers,  to  hurry  matters,  set  their 
shoulders  to  the  inner  door,  and  cried,  "Avast,  lads,  avast!  " 
and  the  door  gave  way.  Wesley  stepped  forward  at  once  and 
said:  "  Here  I  am.  Which  of  you  has  anything  to  say  to  me  ? 
To  which  of  you  have  I  done  any  wrong  ?  To  you  ?  Or  you  ? 
Or  you  ?  "  He  walked  on  as  he  talked  until  he  came  to  the 
middle  of  the  street,  when,  raising  his  voice,  he  cried  with 
great  dignity  : 

* '  Neighbors,  countrymen !  Do  you  desire  to  hear  me 
speak  ? " 

"  Yes,  yes,"  they  answered;   "  he  shall  speak." 

The  captains  of  the  mob,  admiring  his  courage,  commanded 
silence  while  he  spoke,  and  afterward  conducted  him  in  safety 
to  another  house  I 

The  reasons  assigned  by  the  rioters  themselves  for  their 
opposition  to  Methodism  were  very  various  and  curious,  but 
they  often  echoed  the  pulpit  cries  of  the  day,  or  were  the  out- 
come of  passing  popular  and  unreasoning  excitement  ready  to 
seize  on  any  excuse  for  violence.  When  Wesley  visited  St. 
Ives  the  second  time,  in  1744,  he  found  the  mob  had  pulled 
down  the  preaching  house  "  for  joy  that  Admiral  Matthews 
had  beat  the  Spaniards      Such  is  the  Cornish  method  of  thanks- 


Wesley  Faces  Mobs.  179 

giving.  I  suppose,  if  Admiral  Lestock  had  fought  too,  they 
would  have  knocked  all  the  Methodists  on  the  head."  The 
violence  of  the  clergy  was  not  any  more  intelligent.  The 
bigoted  rector  of  Penzance  had  several  Methodists  committed 
to  prison,  among  them  Edward  Greenfield,  a  tanner,  who  had 
a  wife  and  seven  children.  Wesley  asked  what  objection  there 
was  to  this  peaceable  man,  and  the  answer  came:  "The  man 
is  well  enough  in  other  things ;  but  his  impudence  the  gentle- 
men cannot  bear.  Why,  sir,  he  says  he  knows  his  sins  are 
forgiven!  " 

The  main  responsibility  of  these  riots  lay  with  the  clergymen 
and  "gentlemen"  who  stirred  up  the  excitable  people,  and 
cannot  be  attributed  to  any  illegal  or  rash  actions  of  the 
Wesleys. 

Miss  Wedgwood,  who  is  far  from  being  a  Methodist,  says, 
concerning  John  Wesley:  "Nothing  that  could  form  the 
flimsiest  pretext  for  the  treatment  received  by  his  followers 
can  be  brought  home  to  him.  He  does  not  appear  to  have 
separated  families;  he  never  went  where  he  had  not  a  perfect 
right  to  be ;  he  addressed  those  whom  he  regarded  as  beyond 
his  pale  in  courteous  and  modern  language ;  he  never  thrust 
his  exhortations  on  anybody.  The  attacks  of  enemies,  and  even 
the  accounts  of  alienated  disciples,  may  be  read  without  ex- 
tracting a  single  anecdote  that  we  should  think  discreditable 
to  him;  indeed,  it  is  from  this  source  that  we  derive  much 
valuable,  because  unconscious,  testimony  to  the  good  influence 
of  his  code  on  secular  life.  We  cannot,  then,  admit  that  Wes- 
ley's errors  of  judgment  or  limitations  of  sympathy  had  even 
the  slightest  share  in  producing  the  popular  fury  of  which  in- 
stances have  just  been  given." 

It  is  noteworthy  that,  while  Wesley's  persecutors  passed 
quickly  away,  nearly  all  who  took  patiently  the  spoiling  of 
their  goods  lived  long  and  peaceful  lives.     Wesley  notes  the 


i8o 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


sad  end  of  many  persecutors.  Egginton,  the  Vicar  of  Wednes- 
bury,  who  delivered  a  sermon  against  the  Methodists  which 
Wesley  pronounced  the  most  wicked  he  ever  heard,  and  who 
was  responsible  for  the  violence  of  the  mob,  died  in  a  few 
months.  At  Bristol,  in  1743,  a  clergyman  preached  terrible 
sermons  in  several  city  churches  against  the  upstart  Meth- 
odists, and  was  about  to  do  so  in  the  Church  of  St.  Nicholas, 


The  Press  Gang. 

After  the  cartoon  by  Gilray. 

when,  after  announcing  his  text,  he  was  seized  with  a  rattling 
in  the  throat,  fell  backward  in  the  pulpit,  and  expired  the  fol- 
lowing Sunday.  In  some  instances  those  who  planned  the 
death  of  the  preachers  were  themselves  wounded,  and  even 
killed,  by  their  companions. 

The  Methodists  were  not  driven  out;  they  more  and  more 
became  masters  of  the  situation,  and  after  1757  peace  reigned 
almost   everywhere.      It   was   due   largely   to   Wesley's  good 


Wesley  Faces  Mobs.  i8i 

generalship,  his  perfect  command  of  his  forces,  and  the  noble 
example  which  he  himself  set.  Isaac  Taylor's  verdict  is, 
"  When  encountering'  the  ruffianism  of  mobs  and  of  magis- 
trates, he  showed  a  firmness  as  well  as  a  guileless  skill,  which, 
if  the  martyr's  praise  might  admit  of  such  an  adjunct,  was 
graced  with  the  dignity  and  courtesy  of  the  gentleman. "  Wes- 
ley was  always  the  gentleman  and  the  scholar.  As  Rigg  says : 
"It  was  contrary  alike  to  his  temper  and  his  tactics,  to  his 
courtesy  and  to  his  common  sense,  to  say  or  do  anything  which 
might  justly  offend  the  taste  of  those  with  whom  he  had  to 
do.  .  .  .  Wesley's  perfect,  placid  intrepidity,  his  loving  calm- 
ness and  serenity  of  spirit,  amid  whatever  rage  of  violence  and 
under  whatever  provocations  and  assaults,  must  always  remain 
a  wonder  to  the  historian.  His  heroism  was  perfect;  his  self- 
possession  never  failed  him  for  a  moment ;  the  serenity  of  his 
temper  was  never  ruffled.  Such  bravery  and  self-command 
and  goodness,  in  circumstances  so  terrible  and  threatening, 
were  too  much  for  his  persecutors  everywhere.  He  always 
triumphed  in  the  end." 


i82  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


(D 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

In  Conference  with  the  Preachefs, 

An  Ecclesiastical  Statesman.— The  First  Conference.— Notable 
Conferences.— One-Man  Power.- "Christian  Democ- 
racy."— Early  Discipline. — Circuits. 

Y  brother  Wesley  acted  wisely.  The  souls  that  were 
awakened  under  his  ministry  he  joined  in  societies, 
and  thus  preserved  the  fruit  of  his  labor.  This  I 
neglected,  and  my  people  are  a  rope  of  sand."  Thus  White- 
field,  the  evangelist,  spoke  of  John  Wesley,  the  ecclesiastical 
statesman.  It  was  Wesley's  aim  to  bind  together  with  links  of 
steel  not  only  individual  members,  but  all  the  new  societies 
from  Land's  End  to  Newcastle.  And  he  did  this  at  first  with- 
out any  intention  to  form  a  separate  Church  from  the  Estab- 
lishment. With  a  sole  desire  to  shepherd  these  souls,  but 
against  his  own  ecclesiastical  sentiments,  in  spite  of  his  own 
protests,  and  with  a  curious  obliviousness  to  the  final  results  of 
his  action,  Wesley  step  by  step  organized  a  great  New  Testa- 
ment Church,  which  after  his  death  was  to  drift  away  from  the 
State  Establishment  and  become  one  of  the  Free  Churches  of 
the  world.  It  was  not  Wesley  but  Wesley's  Christ  who,  as 
Head  of  his  Church,  overruled  Wesley's  Anglicanism  that 
Methodism  might  become  cosmopolitan. 

During  his  first  five  years  of  itinerancy,  from  1739  to  1744, 
forty-five  preachers,  including  three  or  four  clergymen,  had 
gathered  round  Wesley.  The  lay  preachers  maintained  them- 
selves by  working  at  their  secular  callings  in  the  intervals  of 
their  journeys.     There  is  no  record  of  the  total  membership  in 


In  Conference  with  the  Preachers.  183 

England,  but  in  London  alone  there  were  two  thousand  mem- 
bers. The  class  meeting  was  fully  developed,  the  Rules  of  the 
United  Societies  printed  and  enforced,  the  quarterly  visitation 
of  the  classes  arranged  for,  lay  preaching  instituted,  places  of 
worship  secured,  and  the  sacraments  administered.  And  all 
this  had  been  done  apart  from  episcopal  authority  or  control. 

Five  years  after  the  formation  of  the  first  society  class  the 
first  Conference  was  held  in  London,  in  1744.  Its  purely  inci- 
dental character  is  indicated  by  the  quiet  record  in  Wesley's 
Journal,  where  "Conference"  is  spelled  with  a  small  "c": 
"Monday,  August  25,  and  the  five  following  days,  we  spent  in 
conference  with  many  of  our  brethren,  come  from  several 
parts,  who  desire  nothing  but  to  save  their  own  souls  and  those 
that  hear  them." 

"That  little  conclave  of  1744  in  the  Foundry,"  said  Dr. 
Gregory  in  1899,  "  was  the  first  of  a  series  which  has  already  ex- 
tended over  a  hundred  and  fifty-five  years,  with  many  offshoots 
and  affiliations,  directing  and  administering  to  thoiisands  of 
churches,  in  almost  every  nation  under  heaven. "  There  were 
present  the  two  Wesleys  and  four  other  clergymen:  John 
Hodges,  rector  of  Wenvo,  Wales;  Henry  Piers,  Vicar  of  Bex- 
ley;  Samuel  Taylor,  Vicar  of  Quinton  in  Gloucestershire;  and 
John  Meriton,  from  the  Isle  of  Man.  The  four  lay  "assist- 
ants" present  were  Thomas  Richards,  Thomas  Maxfield,  John 
Bennet,  and  John  Downes.  The  Conference  considered  three 
points:  i.  What  to  teach.  2.  How  to  teach.  3.  How  to  regu- 
late doctrine,  discipline,  and  practice.  For  two  days  they  con- 
versed on  such  vital  doctrines  as  the  Fall,  the  Work  of  Christ, 
Justification,  Regeneration,  Sanctification.  The  answer  to  the 
question  "  How  to  teach  ?  "  was  fourfold:  i.  To  invite.  2.  To 
convince.  3.  To  offer  Christ.  4.  To  build  up.  And  to  do 
this  in  some  measure  in  every  sermon. 

In  the  light  of  later  history  the  questions  relating  to  the 


184  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

Church  of  England   are   of  great  interest.     It  was  agreed  to 
obey  the  bishops  "in  all  things  indifferent,"  and  to  observe  the 


r 


1.  Be  diligent,  never  be  unemplpyed  a  moment,  never  be  triflingly 

employed,  [never  while  away  time,]  spend  no  more  time  at 
any  place  than  is  strictly  necessary. 

2.  Be    serious.     Let    your  motto  be,   Holiness   unto  the   Lord. 

Avoid  all  lightness  as  you  would  avoid  hell-fire,  and  laughing 
as  you  would  cursing  and  swearing. 

3.  Touch  no  woman;  be  as  loving  as  you  will,  but  hold  your  hands 

off  'em.     Custom  is  nothing  to  us. 

4.  Beheve  evil  of  no  one.     If  you  see  it  done,  well ;  else  take 

heed  how  you  credit  it.  Put  the  best  construction  on  every 
thing.  You  know  the  judge  is  always  allowed  [supposed]! 
to  be  on  the  prisoner's  side. 

5.  Speak  evil  of  no  one ;  else  your  word  especially  would  eat  as- j 

doth  a  canker.    Keep  your  thoughts  within  your  [own]  breast,   ' 
till  you  come  to  the  person  concerned.  j 

6.  Tell  everyone  what  you  think  wrong  in  him,  and  that  plainly,   ! 

and  as  soon  as  may  be,  else  it  will  fester  in  your  heart.    Make  ! 
all  haste,  therefore,  to.  cast  the  fire  out  of  jour  bosom.  j 

7.  Do  nothing  as  a  gentleman  :  you  have  no  more  to  do  with  this   | 

character  than  with  that  of  a  dancing-master.     You  are  the  ' 
servant  of  all,  therefore  ■ 

8.  Be  ashamed  of   nothing  but  sin  :    not  of  fetching  wood,  or 

drawing  water,  if  time  permit ;  not  of  cleaning  your  own 
shoes  or  your  neighbour's. 

9.  Take  no  money  of  any  one.  /  If  they  give  you  food  when  you 

are  hungry,  or  clothes  when  you  need  them,  it  is  good.  But 
not  silver  or  gold.  Let  there  be  no  pretence  to  say,  we  grow 
rich  by  the  Gospel. 

10.  Contract  no  debt  without  my  knowledge. 

11.  Be  .punctual:    do    everything  exactly   at   the  time;   and  in 
•    general  do  not  mend  our  rules,  but  keep  them,  not  for  wrath 

but  for  conscience  sake. 

12.  Act  in  all  things  not  according  to  your  own  will,  but  as -a  son 

in  the  Gospel.  As  such,  it  is  your  part  to  employ  your  time 
in  the  manner  which  we  direct  :  partly  in  visiting  the  flock 
from^house  to  house  (the  sick  in  particular) ;  partly,  in  such 
a  course  of  Reading,  Meditation  and  Prayer,  as  we  advise 
from  time  to  time.  Above  all,  if  you  labour  with  us  in  our 
Lord's  vineyard,  it  is  needful  you  should  do  that  part  of  the 
work  [which]  we  prescribe  [direct]*  at  those  times  and  places 
which  we  judge  most  for  His  glory. 


The  Rules  of  an  Assistant. 

Reproduced  from  the  notes  of  the  first  Conference,  as  recently  printed  by  the 
Wesleyan  Historical  Society. 

canons  "so  far  as  we  can  with  a  safe  conscience."     The  charge 
of  schism  was  anticipated  thus : 


In  Conference  with  the  Preachers.  185 

"  Q.  12.  Do  not  yon  entail  a  schism  on  the  Church?  that  is,  Is 
it  not  probable  that  your  hearers  after  your  death  will  be  scat- 
tered into  sects  and  parties?  Or  that  they  will  form  themselves 
into  a  distinct  sect? 

"A.  I.  We  are  persuaded  the  body  of  our  hearers  will  even 
after  our  death  remain  in  the  Church,  unless  they  be  thrust 
out.  2.  We  believe,  notwithstanding,  either  that  they  will  be 
thrust  out  or  that  they  wall  leaven  the  whole  Church.  3.  We 
do,  and  will  do,  all  we  can  to  prevent  those  consequences  which 
are  supposed  likely  to  happen  after  our  death.  4.  But  we  can- 
not with  good  conscience  neglect  the  present  opportunity  of 
saving  souls,  while  we  live,  for  fear  of  consequences  which 
may  possibly  or  probably  happen  after  we  are  dead. " 

It  was  decided  that  lay  assistants  should  be  emplo}'ed  "only 
in  cases  of  necessity."  The  rules  of  an  assistant  are  terse: 
' '  Be  diligent.  Never  be  triflingly  employed.  Be  serious.  .  . 
Speak  evil  of  no  one;  else  your  word,  especially,  would  eat  as 
doth  a  canker."  The  remainder  of  these  rules  appear  in  our 
facsimile  pages  of  the  recent  edition  of  Bennet's  Notes. 

It  was  decided  that  the  best  way  to  spread  the  Gospel  was 
"to  go  a  little  and  little  farther  from  London,  Bristol,  St.  Ives, 
Newcastle,  or  any  other  society.  So  a  little  leaven  would 
spread  with  more  effect  and  less  noise,  and  help  w^ould  always 
be  at  hand. "  It  is  evident  that  the  towns  here  named  were 
regarded  as  the  centers  of  Methodism  in  that  year.  The  belief 
was  expressed  that  the  design  of  God  in  raising  up  the  preach- 
ers called  Methodists  was  "to  reform  the  nation,  particularly 
the  Church,  and  to  spread  scriptural  holiness  throughout  the 
land." 

During  its  session  Lady  Huntingdon  invited  the  Conference 
to  her  London  mansion  in  Downing  Street,  and  Wesley 
preached  from  the  text,  "What  hath  God  wrought."  This 
was  the  first  of  the  household  services  which  afterward,  under 


i86 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist, 


Whitefield,  almost  transformed  that  aristocratic  mansion  into  a 
chapel. 

The  second  Conference  was  held  at  Bristol,  in  the  Horsefair 
preaching  room.     London  and  Bristol  were  the  meeting  places 


/,  1 1    '   *  •  > 


"The  Hole  in  the  Wall." 

The  entrance  from  the  Horsefair,  Bristol,  to  the  chapel  where  the  second 
Conference  was  held. 

until  1753,  when  Leeds  was  added;  in  1765  Manchester  was 
visited,  and  these  became  the  four  Conference  towns  for  the 
rest  of  Wesley's  lifetime. 

A  layman  was  present  at  the  second  Conference,  as  well  as 


In  Conference  with  the  Preachers.  187 

seven  lay  preachers.  This  layman  was  Marmaduke  Gwynne, 
a  magistrate  of  Garth,  whose  daughter  Charles  Wesley  mar- 
ried. In  1749  the  question  was  asked,  "Who  are  the  properest 
persons  to  be  present  at  any  Conference  of  this  nature?" 
The  answer  was:  "  i.  As  many  of  the  preachers  as  conven- 
iently can.  2.  The  most  earnest  and  most  sensible  of  the 
Band  Leaders  where  the  Conference  is.  3.  Any  pious  and 
judicious  stranger  who  may  be  occasionally  in  the  place." 
It  is  evident  that  the  early  Conferences  were  very  mixed  in 
their  membership.  It  was  not  imtil  1784,  when  Wesley's 
famous  "Deed  of  Declaration  "  was  enrolled,  that  the  Confer- 
ence received  a  legal  definition,  and  the  governing  body  of 
one  himdred  preachers  was  appointed.  And  it  was  not  until 
1797  that  "the  Band  Leaders"  and  "  pious  and  judicious  stran- 
gers" were  formally  excluded,  and  preachers  only  declared 
eligible  to  attend.  Later  legislation  has  again  opened  the  door 
to  the  laity. 

The  Church  principles  aimed  at  and  acted  on  at  Wesley's 
Conferences  are  clearly  stated.  The  leading  principle  is  that 
every  ecclesiastical  obligation,  including  obedience  to  bishops 
and  observance  of  canons,  must  be  subordinated  to  the  salva- 
tion of  souls.  We  have  seen  this  expressed  at  the  first  Confer- 
ences; it  was  reaffirmed  later.  In  1746,  after  he  had  read  Lord 
(Chancellor)  King's  account  of  the  Primitive  Church,  Wesley 
finally  renounced  the  doctrine  of  apostolical  succession.  He 
never  swerved  from  his  conclusion,  and  in  a  letter  to  his 
brother  Charles  many  years  after  he  spoke  of  "the  uninter- 
rupted succession  "as  "a  fable,  which  no  man  ever  did  or  can 
prove." 

The  Leeds  Conference  of  1755  was  confronted  by  the  fact 
that  some  of  the  lay  preachers,  upon  their  own  responsi- 
bility, had  begun  to  administer  the  sacraments.  Sixty-three 
preachers  assembled — an  unprecedented  number.     Many  views 


i88  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

were  advocated,  but  John  Wesley's  prevailed.  He  succeeded 
in  persuading  the  Conference  that,  whether  it  was  lawful  or 
not,  it  was  no  way  expedient  to  separate  from  the  Church.  He 
admitted  that  he  could  not  answer  the  arguments  for  secession, 
but  he  wrote:  "  I  only  fear  the  preachers  or  people  leaving  not 
the  Church,  but  the  love  of  God  and  inward  or  outward  holi- 
ness.  ...   If ,  as  my  lady  [Huntingdon]  says,  all  outward  Estab- 


The  Old  Chapel,  Derby,  1765. 

An  example  of  early  Wesleyan  building. 

ILshments  are  Babel,  so  is  this  Establishment.  Let  it  stand,  for 
me;  I  neither  set  it  up  nor  pull  it  down.  But  let  you  and  I 
build  up  the  city  of  God."  "  Church  or  no  Church,"  he  again 
wrote,  •'  we  must  attend  to  the  work  of  saving  souls. "  He  felt 
that  separation  at  this  time  would  not  help  the  main  work. 
Walsh  and  his  associates  consented,  for  the  sake  of  peace,  to 
cease  to  administer  the  sacraments. 

So  here,  for  a  season  only,  the  question  was  shelved,  not  as 
the  result  of  any  ecclesiastical  opinion  held  by  John  Wesley, 


In  Conference  with  the  Preachers.  189 

' '  but  of  that  expediency  which   with  him  was  always  a  moral 

law." 

At  the  Leeds  Conference  of  1769,  memorable,  as  we  shall  tell 
later,  for  the  appointment  of  the  first  preachers  to  America, 
Wesley  read  a  paper  in  which  he  advised  the  preachers  what  to 
do  after  his  death.  It  was  signed  by  all  the  preachers  at  the 
Conferences  of  1773,  1774,  and  1775,  and  was  afterward  super- 
seded by  his  Deed  of  Declaration,  but  it  is  worthy  of  note  here 
as  showing  that  at  the  age  of  sixty-six  he  felt  that  Methodism 
would  be  compelled,  sooner  or  later,  to  take  an  independent 
and  permanent  form. 

During  his  lifetime  John  Wesley  was  recognized  as  the  living 
center  of  his  united  societies.  He  was  the  president  of  every 
Conference.  He  was  felt  to  be  the  father  of  this  new  people, 
w^ho  before  were  "not  a  people,"  but  "a  rope  of  sand."  A 
Fernley  lecturer  has  well  said  that  nothing  but  his  personal 
influence— spiritual,  moral,  and  intellectual,  brought  to  bear  on 
each  part  of  the  wide  connection  by  his  visitation  and  his  facile, 
firm,  yet  flexible  and  gentle  pen,  which  gave  him  a  kind  of  con- 
nectional  ubiquity— could  possibly  have  held  together  and 
molded  the  vast  and  locally  scattered  multitude  w^hich  was  pul- 
sating with  a  new  life. 

At  the  Conference  of  1766  he  frankly  faced  the  question: 
"  What  power  is  this  w^hich  you  exercise  over  both  the  preach- 
ers and  the  societies  ? "  After  tracing  step  by  step  the  won- 
derful history  of  the  societies,  he  affirms,  "  It  was  merely  in 
obedience  to  the  providence  of  God,  for  the  good  of  the  people, 
that  I  first  accepted  this  power  which  I  never  sought;  it  is  on 
the  same  consideration,  not  for  profit,  honor,  or  pleasure,  that 
I  use  it  this  day." 

' '  Does  not  Methodism  .  .  .  represent  Christian  democracy 
within  the  Church,  in  opposition  to  the  supremacy  of  a  few  great 
ones  ?  "  says  the  Lutheran  Church  historian,  Hagenbach.     Con- 


190 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


trasting  Wesley  with  Zinzendorf,  "who  could  never  lay  aside 
the  count, "  this  German  onlooker  observes  of  Wesley :  "  Nature 
had  made  him  a  man  for  the  masses,  and,  notwithstanding  all 
that  native  nobility  and  dignity  by  which  he  impressed  every- 
body, there  was  in  him  a  true  absence  of  everything  that 
savored  of  haughtiness."  Although,  inspired  by  the  purest 
motives  and  for  the  good  of  the  people,  he  maintained  his  lead- 


Barnard  Castle  Chapel,  1765. 


ership  to  the  last,  no  leader  of  men  was  ever  more  willing  to 
take  counsel  with  others.  With  aristocratic  blood  in  his  veins, 
he  founded  the  most  democratic  Church  in  Christendom.  He 
encouraged  the  utmost  freedom  of  discussion  in  his  Confer- 
ences.     He  would  have  no  man  muzzled. 

It  is  surely  not  without  reason  that  so  many  Methodist  class 
leaders  and  local  preachers  have  been  elected  to  the  various 
local  government  boards  which  now  abound  in  England.  In 
many  rural  districts  their  training  in   the  conduct  of  Church 


In  Conference  with  the  Preachers.  191 

business  has  fitted  them  above  all  others  to  serve  the  com- 
munity in  these  local  boards.  Uninteresting  and  complicated 
as  Methodist  polity  and  the  doings  of  "Conference"  may 
appear  to  the  casual  observer,  to  those  who  follow  its  devel- 
opment the  history  has  national  significance. 

It  was  in  1747  that  the  qualifications  of  lay  preachers  were  set 
down  in  this  wise : 

"  Q.  How  shall  we  try  those  who  believe  they  are  moved  by 
the  Holy  Ghost  and  called  of  God  to  preach  ? 

"A.  Inquire,  i.  Do  they  know  in  whom  they  have  believed  ? 
Have  they  the  love  of  God  in  their  hearts  ?  And  are  they  holy 
in  all  manner  of  conversation  ?  2.  Have  they  gifts  (as  well  as 
grace)  for  the  work  ?  Have  they  (in  some  tolerable  degree)  a 
clear,  sound  understanding  ?  Have  they  a  right  judgment  in 
the  things  of  God  ?  Have  they  a  just  conception  of  the  salva- 
tion by  faith  ?  And  has  God  given  them  any  degree  of  utter- 
ance ?  Do  they  speak  justly,  readily,  clearly  ?  3.  Have  they 
success  ?  Do  they  not  only  so  speak  as  generally  either  to  con- 
vince or  affect  the  hearts  ?  " 

The  territorial  division  of  the  country  early  necessitated  a 
gradation  of  office  among  the  preachers.  In  the  most  inci- 
dental "common-sense  manner"  a  primitive  episcopacy  of  the 
purest  type  was  thus  formed,  without  the  name.  The  preacher 
in  charge  of  a  circuit  was  called  an  assistant  (to  Wesley),  and 
his  colleagues  were  helpers,  both  to  the  assistant  and  Wesley, 
At  the  third  Conference  we  also  find  the  third  office,  exhorter, 
recognized.  The  religious  life  of  the  preachers  of  each  grade 
was  the  primary  qualification,  but  from  the  first  their  intellec- 
tual training  was  provided  for,  as  the  lists  of  books  in  the  early 
Minutes  show.  "  Read  the  most  useful  books,"  was  a  minute 
at  Leeds  in  1766.  "  Steadily  spend  all  the  morning  in  this 
employ,  or  at  least  five  hours  in  twenty-four.  .  .  .  '  But  I  have 
no  taste  for  reading. '     Contract  a  taste  for  it  by  use,  or  return 


192 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


to  your  trade. "  This  applied  especially  to  the  itinerants,  for 
whom  a  better  financial  provision  was  made  about  this  time. 

Wesley's  common  sense  is  evident  in  the  crisp  sentences  of 
the  "smaller  advices  about  preaching  "  in  1746.  After  advising 
that  assistants  should  never  preach  more  than  twice  a  day, 
unless  on  Sunday  or  special  occasions,  the  minute  enjoins: 

"  I.    Be  sure  to  begin  and  end  precisely  at  the  time  appointed. 

2.    Sing  no  hymns   of   your 


iCTu 


ItHJliii'i. 


William  Shent's  House. 

The  site  and  probably  the  house  in  which 
the  first  Methodist  sermon  in  Leeds  was 
preached,  1743.  Shent  was  barber  and 
preacher. 


own  composing.  3.  En- 
deavor to  be  serious,  weighty, 
solemn,  in  your  whole  de- 
portment before  the  con- 
gregation. 4,  Choose  the 
plainest  text  you  can. 
5.  Take  care  not  to  ramble 
from  your  text,  but  keep 
close  to  it,  and  make  out 
what  you  undertake.  6.  Al- 
ways suit  the  subject  to  the 
audience.  7.  Beware  of  al- 
legorizing or  spiritualizing 
too  much.  8.  Take  care  of 
anything  awkward  or  af- 
fected, either  in  your  gesture 
9.   Tell  each  other  if  you  observe  anything 


or  pronunciation. 
of  this  kind. " 

A  question  of  intense  interest  to  all  who,  like  Wesley,  are 
engaged  in  evangelizing  the  masses  also  occurs  at  this  third 
Conference : 

"Q.  What  sermons  do  we  find  by  experience  to  be  attended 
with  the  greatest  blessing? 

"A.  I.  Such  as  are  most  close,  convincing,  and  practical. 
2.   Such  as  have  most  of   Christ  the  Priest,  the  Atonement. 


In  Conference  with  the  Preachers. 


193 


3.    Such  as  urge  the   heinousness  of  men  hving  in  contempt  or 
ignorance  of  him. " 

The  early  preachers  did  not  take  a  vow  of  poverty  on  enter- 
ing the  itinerancy,  but  the  Frenchman,  Lelievre,  in  his  charm- 
ing Life  of  Wesley,  has  well  said,  ' '  They  practiced  a  voluntary 
course  of  self-renunciation  that  was  never  excelled  by  the  fol- 


The  Modern  Kingswood  School,  Bath. 


lowers  of  St.  Francis. "  One  of  the  rules  was,  "Take  no  money 
of  anyone.  If  they  give  you  food  when  you  are  hungry,  or 
clothes  when  you  need  them,  it  is  good,  but  not  silver  or  gold. 
Let  there  be  no  pretense  to  say  we  grow  rich  by  the  Gospel. " 
Receiving  their  daily  supplies  from  the  society,  they  were  only 
paid,  in  money,  enough  to  cover  their  traveling  expenses,  and 
these  were  very  small,  most  of  them  walking  long  distances. 
One  faithful  preacher,  who  died  in  harness,  left  but  one  shilling 
13 


194 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


and  four  pence.      "Enough,"  says  Wesley,  "  for  any  unmarried 
preacher  of  the  Gospel,  to  leave  his  executors. " 

Married  preachers  like  John  Nelson,  stone  mason,  and  Wil- 
liam Shent,  barber,  had  to  work  at  their  trade  for  support.  In 
1752  the  Conference  fixed  ;j^i2  as  the  sum  which  the  societies 
should  pay  annually  to  each  preacher.  It  was  a  much-breached 
rule.  In  1769  an  allowance  of  £,10  was  made  for  the  wife  of  a 
married  preacher.  And  the  next  year  we  find  a  preacher's 
house  in  the  principal  Methodist  centers.  In  1774  the  rule  was 
made  that   ' '  every  circuit   shall  find  the    preacher's    wife    a 


p 

^""^"^^ 

'■^■^^^^^ 

it 

s 

-X}\>  ''^^ii 

n 

J" 

0 

P^Hmil 

r* 

HH 

■ 

*     r 

'  ^'^BH^^P 

HH 

\l  , 

"''  ''■llrWHiM 

y 

i 

^^M 

^^^^^^Kks^R 

■u^HH 

n 

^^fc^ 

_^^^^ 

John  Wesley's  Study,  Bristol, 
Here  Adam  Clarke  first  met  Wesley  (1782). 


lodging,  coal,  and  candles,  orp^i5  per  year"  to  procure  them 
for  herself.  An  allowance  of  £4  a  year  was  made  for  each 
child. 

The  question  of  the  education  of  the  preachers'  children 
occupied  the  Conference  of  1748.  The  school  at  Kings  wood 
was  enlarged,  with  the  help  of  ;^8oo  received  from  some  un- 
known lady,  and  a  schoolroom,  separate  from  that  used  for 
the  colliers'  school,  was  provided.  A  very  elaborate  plan,  ex- 
tending to  the  very  details  of  diet,  was  drawn  up  by  Wesley, 
and  the  stringent  rules  suggest  the  reflection  that  Wesley  was 


In  Conference  with  the  Preachers.  195 

never  blessed  with  any  children  of  his  own.  The  course  of 
study  was  encyclopaedic;  the  discipline  severe.  But  Kings- 
wood  School  was  a  marvelous  advance  upon  any  school  in  the 
kingdom,  for  boys  of  from  six  to  twelve  years  old,  in  the  range 
and  quality  of  its  teaching. 

The  division  of  the  kingdom  into  "  circuits  "  first  appears  in 
the  Conference  Minutes  of  1746.  The  circuits  and  appoint- 
ments for  the  next  quarter  were  thus  arranged,  the  initials  in- 
dicating the  names  of  the  preachers: 

' '  Q.   How  are  these  places  to  be  supplied  for  this  quarter  ? 

"  A.   As  far  as  we  can  yet  see,  thus: 

Circuit.  June.  July.  August. 

I.London.  J.W.  J.R.  T.R.  J.W.  To.M.  J.R.  C.W.  Jo.B.  Jo.D. 

2.  Bristol.  J.M.  T.Md.  J.W.  C.W.  T.R.  T.H.  T.R.  T.J. 

3.  Cornwall.  C.W.  T.Mk.  J.Tr.  Jo.Tr.  T.R.  F.W. 

4.  Evesham.  J.W.  Ja.Jo.  Ja.J.  T.  Jo.Co.  Jas.Co. 
S.Yorkshire.  To.  Ha.  To.  W.  J.H.  J.B.  Ja.  W.  J.T.  Jo.N.  Ja.W. 

6.  Newcastle.     Ja.W.  Jo.R.  J.N.  T.We.  S.L.  S.L.  T.W.  Jo.W. 

7.  Wales.  Mr.M.  T.R.  J.W. 

The  chapels  were  legally  settled  upon  trustees  in  1749,  and 
at  the  Manchester  Conference  of  1765  a  secretary  was  ap- 
pointed to  examine  the  deeds  and  see  that  vacancies  among 
trustees  were  filled.  The  regular  annual  publication  of  the 
Minutes  also  began  at  this  latter  Conference,  and  the  first 
provision  for  the  "  worn-out  preachers"  having  been  made  two 
years  previously,  the  title  of  "  vSuperannuated  Preachers"  ap- 
pears in  the  Minutes  for  the  first  time.  At  this  session  the 
Member's  Ticket  was  permanently  adopted. 

The  Methodist  preachers  were  required  to  exercise  over  each 
other  the  most  faithful  vigilance,  and  at  every  Conference  after 
1767  the  question  was  asked:  "Are  there  any  objections  to 
any  of  the  preachers  ?  "  who  were  named  one  by  one.  This 
practice  is  still  maintained.  Wesley  regarded  the  maintenance 
of  doctrine,  experience,  right  conduct,  and  discipline  as  essen- 


iq6  John  Wesley  the  Methodist.        * 

tial  to  the  permanency  of  Methodism,  and  held  that  they  must 
not  be  separated.  ' '  The  first  time  I  was  in  the  company  of  the 
Rev.  John  Wesley,"  once  wrote  a  correspondent  of  the  New 
York  Evangelist,  ' '  I  asked  him  what  must  be  done  to  keep 
Methodism  alive  when  he  was  dead.  To  which  he  immediately 
answered:  "The  Methodists  must  take  heed  of  their  doctrine, 
their  experience,  their  practice,  and  their  discipline.  If  they 
attend  to  their  doctrines  only,  they  will  make  the  people  anti- 
nomians ;  if  to  the  experimental  part  of  religion  only,  they  will 
make  them  enthusiasts ;  if  to  the  practical  part  only,  they  will 
make  them  Pharisees;  and  if  they  do  not  attend  to  their  dis- 
cipline, they  will  be  like  persons  who  bestow  much  pains  in 
cultivating  their  garden,  and  put  no  fence  round  it  to  save  it 
from  the  wild  boars  of  the  forest'  " 


a,  C-zTei^L^^r-f^C^     c^Ul^Ck  t  o'    «-^  /^St^- /c_i.c  jn.  ^i>e_  «^o-    'ts     e'er  , 


C'^-J^-r^-U/    fi/ U/li-r^ 


Jo     •  /^o  v>/^  /^  (V 

f  l:'<yrrT7lcr  , 


Facsimile  of  an  Agreement  Made  by  the  Preachers  in  1752. 


Doctrinal  Wars  799 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Doctrinal  Wars. 

Antinomianism. — The  Minute  of  1770.— Fletcher's  Checks. — The  Hills, 
Toplady,  and  Berridge. — Wordy  Wars. 


(D 


ETHODISM  owes  one  of  its  doctrinal  standards,  The 
Notes  on  the  New  Testament,  to  an  illness  which  con- 
fined John  Wesley  to  a  sanitarium  at  theHot- wells,  Bris- 
tol, early  in  1754.  It  was  "a  work,  "he  says,  "I  should  scarce  ever 
have  attempted  had  I  not  been  so  ill  as  not  to  be  able  to  travel 
or  preach,  and  yet  so  well  as  to  be  able  to  read  and  write," 
He  had  been  attacked  with  a  cough  in  November,  and  showed 
alarming  symptoms  of  a  rapid  decline.  Believing  that  his  end 
was  near,  "to  prevent  vile  panegyric,"  he  then  wrote  his  own 
epitaph,  which,  happily,  was  not  needed : 

Here  lieth  the  body 

of 

JOHN  WESLEY. 

A  brand  plucked  out  of  the  burning : 

Who  died  of  consumption  in  the  fifty-first  year  of  his  age, 

Not  leaving,  after  his  debts  were  paid, 

Ten  pounds  behind  him: 

Praying, 

God  be  merciful  to  me,  an  unprofitable  servant. 

A  far  more  serious  trouble  to  Wesley  than  any  personal 
affliction  was  the  antinomianism  which  threatened  his  societies 
with  mortal  disease.  He  was  ever  awake  to  the  dangers  which 
arise  from  the  perversions  of  evangelical  doctrine.  "The  anti- 
nomian  proper,"  says  Dr.  Pope,  the  Methodist  theologian,  "is 


200  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

one  who  treats  the  requirements  of  perfect  holiness  as  met  by 
Christ,  and  refuses  to  measure  his  own  conduct  by  any  law 
whatever. " 

Wesley  carefully  guarded  his  own  doctrine  of  Christian  per- 
fection from  this  peril.  He  considered  antinomianism  the 
worst  of  all  heresies.  Most  strenuously  and  persistently  did 
he  teach  that  the  profession  of  justification  by  faith  should  ever 
be  tested  by  right  conduct. 

"I  would  not  advise  to  preach  the  law  without  the  Gospel 
any  more  than  the  Gospel  without  the  law,"  wrote  John  Wes- 
ley, referring  to  the  so-called  Gospel  preaching  which  he  dis- 
owned. "  Undoubtedly  both  should  be  preached  in  their  turns; 
yea,  both  at  once,  or  both  in  one. "  And  he  sums  up  the  Chris- 
tian ethics  taught  by  himself  and  John  Nelson  in  these  words: 
"God  loves  you;  therefore  love  and  obey  him.  Christ  died 
for  you;  therefore  die  to  sin.  Christ  is  risen;  therefore  rise  in 
the  image  of  God.  Christ  liveth  evermore;  therefore  live  to 
God  till  you  live  with  him  in  glory."  "  So  we  preached;  and 
so  you  believed!  This  is  the  scriptural  way,  the  Methodist 
way,  the  true  way.  God  grant  we  may  never  turn  therefrom, 
to  the  right  hand  or  to  the  left. " 

Wesley's  intense  conviction  of  the  importance  of  practical 
morality  led  him  to  take  drastic  measures  to  rid  his  society  of 
antinomian  teachers,  and  their  perversions  of  evangelical  truth. 
But,  as  Fletcher  says,  antinomianism  had  "spread  like  wild- 
fire "  among  some  of  the  societies.  Most  of  Wesley's  preachers, 
like  John  Nelson,  never  ceased  to  urge  the  people  to  maintain 
good  works.  But  a  few  w^ere  using  the  cant  phrases  and  catch- 
words of  a  perverted  Calvinism.  It  would  be  unjust  to  call  the 
leading  Calvinistic  clergy  antinomians.  Wesley  did  not  do  so. 
But  the  teaching  of  some  of  them  provided  little  safeguard 
against  iminorality  at  a  time  when  antinomianism  was  doing 
fatal  damage  to  the  cause  of  religion.      They  held,  practically. 


Doctrinal  Wars.  201 

that  since  salvation  was  all  of  grace  through  faith,  they  were 
not  required  to  maintain  good  works;  their  standing  in  Christ 
was  secured  by  election,  and,  clothed  in  his  imputed  righteous- 
ness, their  own  righteousness  was  a  matter  of  indifference.  It 
was  not  merely  a  logical  deduction  on  Wesley's  part  that  loose- 
ness of  life  might  result  from  such  loose  doctrine.  He  had 
painful  evidence  that  immorality  was  the  actual  result.  He 
claimed  the  right  to  deal  with  the  matter  in  his  own  Con- 
ference of  preachers  which  met  in  London  a  month  before 
the  death  of  Whitefield.  Hence  arose  the  famous  Minute 
of  1770,  the  outburst  of  a  controversy  which  lasted  for  eight 
years,  and  the  publication  of  Fletcher's  celebrated  Checks  to 
Antinomianism. 

The  Minute  which  provoked  the  new  controversy  declared: 
"We  said  in  1744,  'We  have  leaned  too  much  toward  Calvin- 
ism.'    Wherein? 

"i.  With  regard  to  man's  faithfulness.  Our  Lord  himself 
taught  us  to  use  the  expression.  And  we  ought  never  to  be 
ashamed  of  it.  We  ought  steadily  to  assert,  on  his  authority, 
that  if  a  man  is  not  '  faithful  in  the  unrighteous  mammon, ' 
God  will  not  give  him  the  true  riches. 

"2.  With  regard  to  working  for  life.  This  also  our  Lord 
has  expressly  commanded  us.  '  Labor  '  (epyd^ea^e),  literally, 
'  work, '  '  for  the  meat  that  endureth  to  everlasting  life. '  And, 
in  fact,  every  believer,  till  he  comes  to  glory,  works  for  as  well 
as  from  life. 

"3.  We  have  received  it  as  a  maxim  that  'a  man  is  to  do 
nothing  in  order  to  justification.'  Nothing  can  be  more  false. 
Whoever  desires  to  find  favor  with  God  should  '  cease  from 
evil,  and  learn  to  do  well. '  Whoever  repents  should  do  '  works 
meet  for  repentance.' " 

Then  followed  a  review  of  the  whole  affair,  concluding  that 
"we  are  every  hour  and  every  moment  pleasing  or  displeasing 


202 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


to  God,  according  to  our  works;  according  to  the  whole  of  our 
inward  tempers  and  our  outward  behavior. " 

This  restatement  of  doctrine  w^as  intended  for  the  preachers, 
and  as  a  counterblast  to  antinomianism.      Lady   Huntingdon 

and  her  Calvinistic  friends, 
however,  regarded  it  as  an 
attack  on  their  doctrine  of 
"  imputed  righteousness  " 
and  "justification  by  faith." 
Wesley  seldom  used  the 
former  term,  on  account  of 
its  frequent  abuse,  but  the 
tenor  of  his  preaching  for 
thirty  years  and  his  recent 
sermon  on  the  death  of 
AVhitefield  ought  to  have 
convinced  them  of  his  loy- 
alty to  the  great  doctrine  of 
the  Reformation,  justifica- 
tion by  faith. 

Lady  Huntingdon  broke 
off  her  friendship  with  the 
Wesleys,  and  declared  that 
she  * '  could  bum  against  " 
the  Minute. 

Joseph  Benson  and  John 
Fletcher  had  to  leave  her 
college  at  Trevecca  for  in- 
dorsing its  position,  which  that  elect  lady  and  her  cousin  and 
adviser.  Rev.  Walter  Shirley,  branded  as  "popery  unmasked." 
A  peace  was  patched  up  on  the  basis  of  concessions,  but  not 
until  the  ground  had  been  laid  for  the  five  pamphlets  by 
Fletcher — the    Checks    to    Antinomianism,    which    constitute 


Contemporary  Portraits  of  ^^^esley. 


Portrait  engraved  by  Bromley  for  the  Euro- 
pean Magazine,  April  i,  1791. 
Reputed  portrait  of  Wesley  at  the  age  of 
twenty-five. 


Portrait  by  J.  Tookey.  Published  April  2, 1791. 

Portrait  painted  from  life  by  Robert  Hunter, 

1765.     Wesley  himself  called  it  "  a 

striking  likeness." 


Doctrinal  Wars.  205 

the  greatest  prose  contribution  to  the  Hterature  of  the  Metho- 
dist awakening  as  do  Charles  Wesley's  hymns  to  its  poetry. 

"It  appears,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,"  writes  Fletcher  in  the 
first  of  his  famous  Checks,  * '  that  we  stand  now  as  much  in 
need  of  a  reformation  from  antinomianism  as  our  ancestors  did 
of  a  reformation  from  popery.  People,  it  seems,  may  now  be 
'  in  Christ '  without  being  new  creatures,  and  new  creatures 
without  casting  old  things  away.  They  may  be  God's  children 
without  God's  image."  This  was  Fletcher's  main  reason  for 
the  publication  of  the  five  pamphlets  in  which  he  defended  the 
chief  points  of  the  Methodist  belief  with  matchless  logic  and 
the  finest  literaiy  expression. 

Very  pathetic  is  Fletcher's  protest  against  the  unkindness 
with  which  Wesley  has  been  treated :  "A  gray-headed  minis- 
ter of  Christ,  an  old  general  in  the  armies  of  Immanuel,  a 
father  who  has  children  capable  of  instructing  even  masters  in 
Israel,  one  whom  God  made  the  first  and  principal  instrument 
of  the  late  revival  of  true  religion  in  Israel,"  should  have  met 
with  more  consideration.  In  another  paragraph,  as  beautiful 
in  style  as  in  spirit,  he  incidentally  pays  a  generous  tribute  to 
the  Calvinist  Whitefield  as  "  one  of  the  two  greatest  and  most 
useful  ministers  I  ever  knew. "  "The  other  [Wesley],  after  amaz- 
ing labors,  flies  still  with  unwearied  diligence  through  the  three 
kingdoms,  calling  sinners  to  repentance  and  to  the  healing 
fountain  of  Jesus's  blood.  Though  oppressed  with  the  weight 
of  near  seventy  years,  and  the  care  of  near  thirty  thousand 
souls,  he  shames  still,  by  his  unabated  zeal  and  immense  labors, 
all  the  young  ministers  in  England,  perhaps  in  Christendom. 
He  has  generally  blown  the  Gospel  trump  and  rode  sixteen  or 
twenty  miles  before  most  of  the  professors  who  despise  his 
labors  have  left  their  downy  pillow.  As  he  begins  the  day,  the 
week,  the  year,  so  he  concludes  them,  still  intent  upon  exten- 
sive services  for  the  glory  of  the  Redeemer  and  the  good  of 


2o6  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

souls.  And  shall  we  lightly  lift  up  our  pens,  our  tongues,  our 
hands,  against  him  ?  No ;  let  them  rather  forget  their  cunning. 
If  we  will  quarrel,  can  we  find  nobody  to  fall  out  with  but  the 
minister  upon  whom  God  puts  the  greatest  honor  ?  Our  Elijah 
has  lately  been  translated  to  heaven.  Gray-headed  Elisha  is 
yet  awhile  continued  upon  earth.  And  shall  we  make  a  hurry 
and  noise  to  bring  in  railing  accusations  against  him  with  more 
success  ?  " 

Fletcher's  masterpiece  remains  to  this  day  a  really  valuable 
contribution  to  the  literature  of  an  age-long  dispute.  Every 
Methodist  preacher  reads  the  Checks  as  an  indispensable  part 
of  his  studies,  and  they  are  found  at  all  points  of  the  globe 
whither  Methodist  preachers  have  borne  the  cross.  "They 
have  been  more  influential  in  the  denomination  than  Wesley's 
own  controversial  writings  on  the  subject;  for  he  was  content 
to  pursue  his  itinerant  work,  replying  but  briefly  to  the  Hills, 
and  leave  the  contest  to  Fletcher."  They  have  influenced,  if 
not  directly  through  Fletcher's  writings,  yet  indirectly  through 
Methodism,  the  subsequent  tone  of  theological  thought  in  much 
of  the  Protestant  world. 

The  chief  champions  of  Calvinism  were  Sir  Richard  Hill  and 
his  brother,  Rev.  Rowland  Hill,  Rev.  A.  M.  Toplady,  the 
author  of  the  hymn,  "Rock  of  Ages,"  and  John  Berridge. 
That  these  Calvinistic  friends  were  exasperated  by  Wesley's 
comparative  silence  is  evident.  Toplady  writes:  "Let  Mr. 
Wesley  fight  his  own  battles,  but  let  him  not  fight  by  proxy ;  let 
his  cobblers  keep  to  their  stalls,  his  tinkers  mend  their  brazen 
vessels,  -his  barbers  confine  themselves  to  their  blocks  and 
basins,  his  blacksmiths  blow  more  suitable  coals  than  those  of 
controversy;  each  man  in  his  own  order."  Wesley  is  elegantly 
described  as  "  slinking  behind  one  of  his  drudges. "  vSome  of 
the  terms  used  respecting  this  venerable  servant  of  God,  who 
had  grown  gray  in  unparalleled  labors  for  Christ,  are  almost  too 


Doctrinal  Wars.  207 

bad  to  be  transcribed,  but  they  serve  to  show  the  spirit  of  the 
age.  Here  are  a  few:  "  An  old  fox,  tarred  and  feathered;" 
"a  designing  wolf;  "  "the  most  perfect  and  holy  and  sly  that 
e'er  turned  a  coat,  or  could  pilfer  and  lie;  "   "  a  dealer  in  stolen 


Rev.  Augustus  Montague  Toplady. 
From  the  Gospel  Magazine,  1777. 


wares,  as  unprincipled  as  a  rook  and  as  silly  as  a  jackdaw;  " 
"a  gray-headed  enemy  of  all  righteousness;  "  "  a  venal  profli- 
gate; ■'  "an  apostate  miscreant;  "  "  the  most  rancorous  hater 
of  the  Gospel  system  that  ever  appeared  in  this  land;  alow  and 
puny  tadpole  in  divinity. "    He  is  charged  with  "  low,  serpentine 


2o8  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

cunning-,"  and  with  "driving  a  larger  traffic  in  blunders  and 
blasphemies  than  any  other  blunder-merchant  this  island  has 
produced." 

When  Wesley  received  Richard  Hill's  scurrilous  pamphlet  a 
little  cool  irony  fell  from  his  pen  as  he  wrote  in  his  Journal, 
1772:  "July  II.  I  was  presented  with  Mr.  Hill's  Review,  a 
curiosity  in  its  kind.  But  it  has  nothing  to  do  with  either  good 
nature  or  good  manners;  for  he  is  writing  to  an  Arminian." 
Toplady's  translation  of  Zanchius  on  Predestination  drew  from 
Wesley  his  well-known  summary  of  Calvinism :  ' '  The  sum  of 
all  is  this :  one  in  twenty  (suppose)  of  mankind  are  elected ; 
nineteen  in  twenty  are  reprobated.  The  elect  shall  be  saved, 
do  what  they  will;  the  reprobate  shall  be  damned,  do  what 
they  can,"  Toplady  recognized  Wesley's  mental  force,  and 
wrote :  "I  am  not  insensible  to  your  parts,  but,  alas !  what  is 
distinguished  ability  if  not  wedded  to  integrity!"  Rowland 
Hill  called  Wesley  "the  lying  apostle  of  the  Foundry."  But, 
as  Macdonald  has  well  said,  "  we  have  no  heart  to  pursue  the 
details  of  this  history.  It  is  complicated  and  unremunerative 
in  the  last  degree.  It  deepened  into  bitterness  and  scurrility, 
till  its  later  literature  becomes  unreadable  for  very  shame;  it 
separated  brethren;  it  turned  allies  into  adversaries;  it  offered 
to  a  skeptical  and  ungodly  age  the  spectacle  of  good  men 
'smiting  one  another  unfriendly,'  and  consumed  time  and 
strength  that  were  wanted,  and  more  than  wanted,  for  the 
Christianizing  of  the  country." 

Charles  Wesley's  daughter  Sarah  has  preserved  an  anecdote 
which  illustrates  John  Wesley's  calm  fidelity  to  his  work  amid 
his  troubles.  Her  uncle  had  promised  to  take  her  to  Canter- 
bury and  Dover,  in  1775,  and  she  was  looking  forward  to  this 
with  peculiar  pleasure.  The  day  before  the  journey  her  father 
heard  that  Mrs.  John  Wesley  had  ransacked  her  husband's 
bureau  and  taken  out  some  letters,  on  which,  by  interpolating 


Doctrinal  Wars. 


209 


words  and  misinterpreting  spiritual  expressions,  she  contrived 
to  place  a  vile  construction.  These  she  read  to  some  Calvin- 
ists.  They  were  to  be  sent  to  the  Morning  Post.  Mr.  Russell, 
a  Calvinist,  and  an  intimate  friend  of  Charles  Wesley,  told  him 
of  the  plot,  suspecting  that  the  letters  were  partial  forgeries. 
Charles  hastened  to  the  Foundry  to  induce  his  brother  to  post- 
pone his  journey  and  remain  in  town  to  protect  his  reputation. 


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Rev.  Rowland  Hill. 


"Never  shall  I  forget,"  says  Miss  Wesley,  "the  manner  in 
which  my  father  accosted  my  mother  on  his.return  home.  '  My. 
brother, '  said  he,  'is  indeed  an  extraordinary  man.  I  placed 
before  him  the  importance  of  the  character  of  a  minister;  the 
U 


2IO  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

evil  consequences  which  might  result  from  his  indifference  to 
it;  the  cause  of  religion;  stumbling-blocks  cast  in  the  way  of 
the  weak ;  and  urged  him,  by  every  relative  and  public  motive, 
to  answer  for  himself,  and  stop  the  publication.  His  reply 
was:  "  Brother,  when  I  devoted  to  God  my  ease,  my  time,  my 
life,  did  I  except  my  reputation?  No.  Tell  Sally  I  will  take 
her  to  Canterbury  to-morrow."  '  " 

Miss  Wesley  adds,  "The  letters  in  question  were  satisfac- 
torily proved  to  be  mutilated,  and  no  scandal  resulted  from 
his  trust  in  God."  Richard  Watson  records  that  in  his  day 
some  of  these  letters,  mutilated,  interpolated,  or  forged  by  this 
unhappy  woman,  had  got  into  different  hands,  and  were  still 
preserved.  There  were  other  Calvinists  besides  Charles  Wes- 
ley's friend  who  protested  against  the  attempt  on  the  part  of 
Rowland  Hill,  Toplady,  and  others  to  defame  Wesley's  per- 
sonal character. 

Rowland  Hill,  however,  lived  to  lament  the  bitter  spirit  of 
the  controversy,  and  he  said  of  his  own  writings,  "A  softer 
style  and  spirit  would  have  better  become  me."  He  also  sup- 
pressed one  of  his  most  violent  publications.  The  smoke  of 
the  controversy  must  not  conceal  from  us  his  noble  work  as  an 
impressive,  witty,  warm-hearted  preacher. 

Within  a  year  of  the  close  of  the  controversy  Toplady  died. 
He  had  removed  from  the  country  parish  of  Broad  Henbury  to 
London,  and  two  months  before  his  death  a  strange  scene 
occurred  in  his  chapel  in  Orange  Street.  He  had  heard  a 
report  that  he  had  expressed  a  desire  to  recant  his  opinions  in 
the  presence  of  John  Wesley.  His  combative  but  honest  soul 
was  greatly  stirred.  He  resolved  to  appear  before  his  congre- 
gation once  more  and  publicly  deny  the  rumor.  His  physician 
and  family  remonstrated  in  vain.  He  replied  that  he  "would 
rather  die  in  harness  than  die  in  the  stall,"  He  was  cartied  to 
the  pulpit,  and  there  made  his  "dying  avowal"  that  he  was 


Doctrinal  Wars.  211 

satisfied  of  the  truth  of  all  that  he  had  ever  written.  He  was 
carried  from  his  pulpit  and  soon  after  borne  to  his  grave.  He 
was  only  thirty-eight  when  he  died;  and  Bishop  Ryle  says:  "  If 
he  had  lived  longer,  written  more  hymns,  and  handled  fewer 
controversies,  his  memory  would  have  been  held  in  greater 
honor.  .  .  .  Toplady's  undeniable  faults  should  never  make  us 
forget  his  equally  undeniable  excellencies."  Wesleyan  Metho- 
dists to-day  agree  with  the  evangelical  bishop.  One  of  them 
writes  of  the  sturdy  polemic:  "He  was  honest  in  his  errors, 
and  had  a  stout  English  heart,  which  commands  our  wonder, 
if  not  our  admiration,  in  spite  of  his  faiilts. " 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


CHAPTER  XV. 
Ireland,  Scotland,  and  Wales. 

Island  Visits.  — "  The  Dairyman's  Daughter.  ' — Irish  and  Irish-American 

Methodism.— Shamefully  Treated.— The  Palatines. — 

Wesley  in  Scotland.  —A  Dash  into  Wales. 

«Y^EFORE  the  death  of  Wesley,  Methodism  had  touched  all 
I'j  the  islands  that  gem  the  coast  of  Britain,  with  the 
exception  of  the  Shetlands,  in  the  far  north  of  Scot- 
land. Midway  between  Ireland  and  the  north  of  England  lies 
the  Isle  of  Man,  with  a  resident  population  to-day  of  fifty-five 
thousand,  and  visitors  who  annually  number  one  hundred  and 
thirty  thousand.  The  Manx  novelist.  Hall  Caine,  remembers 
among  the  old  Methodist  local  preachers  "some  of  the  sweet- 
est, purest,  truest  men  that  ever  walked  the  world  of  God." 

It  was  a  Liverpool  local  preacher,  John  Crook,  who  preached 
the  first  Methodist  sermon  in  the  island,  in  1775,  and  the  apos- 
tolic succession  has  been  well  maintained.  Wesley  came  in 
1777  and  preached  to  vast  assemblies  in  churchyards,  markets, 
and  fields.  When  he  died  one  tenth  of  the  adult  population  of 
Manxmen  were  members  of  the  Methodist  societies. 

The  Scilly  Isles  lie  off  the  coast  of  Cornwall.  As  early  as 
1743  Wesley  paid  them  a  flying  visit,  accompanied  by  John 
Nelson.  "It  seemed  strange  to  me,"  he  writes,  "to  attempt 
going  in  a  fisher  boat  fifteen  leagues  upon  the  main  ocean." 
Landing  at  St.  Mary's,  they  waited  on  the  governor,  with  the 
usual  present,  namely,  a  newspaper.  "I  desired  him,  like- 
wise," says  Wesley,   "to  accept  of  an  Earnest  Appeal.     The 


Ireland,  vScoti.and,  and  Wales.  213 

minister  not  being-  willing  I  should  preach  in  the  church,  I 
preached  at  six,  in  the  street,  to  almost  all  the  town  and  many 
soldiers,  sailors,  and  workmen,  on  'Why  will  ye  die,  O  house 
of  Israel? '  It  was  a  blessed  time,  so  that  I  scarce  knew  how  to 
conclude.  After  sermon  I  gave  them  some  little  books  and 
hymns,  which  they  were  so  eager  to  receive  that  they  were 
ready  to  tear  both  them  and  me  to  pieces." 

Among  Wesley's  hearers  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  where  he 
formed  a  society  in  1753,  was  one  Robert  Wallbridge,  whose 
daughter,  Elizabeth,  was  the  Methodist  girl  saint  whose  piety 
has  been  immortalized  in  the  character  of  "The  Dairyman's 
Daughter." 

Twelve  years  before  Wesley  visited  Ireland  Bishop  Berkeley 
had  advocated  the  very  methods  which  Wesley  used  for  reach- 
ing the  hearts  of  the  Irish  people:  the  employment  of  lay 
preachers  taken  from  the  people,  speaking  their  tongue,  and 
' '  well  instructed  in  the  first  principles  of  religion. "  The  Estab- 
lished Church  was  feeble,  and  spiritually  paralyzed,  and  Thomas 
Jackson,  in  his  life  of  Charles  Wesley,  was  justified  in  claiming 
that  even  the  forms  of  Protestantism  would  at  this  day  be 
extinct  in  most  of  the  country  had  it  not  been  for  the  new 
energy  that  was  infused  into  the  Irish  Protestant  churches  by 
Wesley  and  his  helpers.  It  is  true  that,  while  the  progress 
of  Methodism  in  Ireland  has  not  been  so  rapid  as  elsewhere, 
owing  to  racial  estrangements  and  deep-rooted  Romanism,  yet 
the  fruit  of  Irish  Methodism  may  be  found  in  almost  every 
land,  and  America  and  Australasia  owe  a  mighty  debt  to  Erin. 

Wesley  crossed  the  Irish  Channel  forty-two  times,  and  spent 
six  years  of  his  busy  life  in  the  island.  The  bells  were  ringing 
for  church  when  he  first  entered  Dublin  Bay,  on  Sunday  morn- 
ing, August  9,  1747.  In  the  afternoon  he  preached  in  St. 
Mary's  Church  "to  as  gay  and  senseless  a  congregation  "  as  he 
ever  saw,   and  the  next  morning  at  six  he  preached  to  the 


214 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


Methodist  society  in  a  crowded  room.  When  he  went  back  to 
England,  a  fortnight  later,  the  Catholic  mob  wrecked  the  meet- 
ing room.  The  next  year  he  came  again — his  brother  Charles 
having  made  some  progress  in  his  absence. 


Poor  Old  Ireland. 

Interior  of  a  cabin.  An  Irish  farm.  A  fisher's  hovel. 


John  Wesley  was  welcomed  on  his  second  visit,  1748,  with 
great  joy,  so  that  his  voice  could  scarcely  be  heard  for  some 
time  for  the  noise  of  the  people  in  praising  God.  He  soon 
began  to  preach  at  five  in  the  morning,  "an  unheard-of  thing 


Ireland,  Scotland,  and  Wales.  215 

in  Ireland,"  and  he  continued  to  do  this  at  Philipstown,  Tulla- 
more,  Clara,  and  Athlone. 

Wesley  states  that,  while  many  of  the  Methodist  converts 
had  been  Roman  Catholics,  the  number  would  have  been  far 
greater  had  not  the  Protestant  as  well  as  the  popish  priests  hin- 
dered them.  ' '  The  dead  Protestantism  of  the  land  was  his  chief 
obstacle."  " O  what  a  harvest  might  be  in  Ireland  did  not  the 
poor  Protestants  hate  Christianity  worse  than  either  popery  or 
heathenism ! " 

Let  us  follow  John  Wesley  in  his  itinerancy  and  obtain  from 
his  Journals  passing  glimpses  of  the  Ireland  of  his  day. 

On  his  second  visit  to  Cork,  in  1750,  where  he  was  accom- 
panied by  Christopher  Hopper,  riots  broke  out  with  renewed 
violence.  He  went  to  Bandon  to  preach,  but  the  Cork  mob 
followed  him  and  hung  him  in  effigy.  His  best  guardians  were 
the  soldiers,  many  of  whom  became  stanch  Methodists,  and  the 
mob  became  more  afraid  of  them  than  of  the  mayor,  to  whom 
Wesley  wrote  a  letter  closing  with  these  words:  "I  fear  God 
and  honor  the  king.  I  earnestly  desire  to  be  at  peace  with  all 
men.  I  have  not  willingly  given  any  offense  either  to  the 
magistrates,  the  clergy,  or  any  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  of 
Cork;  neither  do  I  desire  anything  of  them  but  to  be  treated  (I 
will  not  say  as  a  clergyman,  a  gentleman,  or  a  Christian)  with 
such  justice  and  humanity  as  are  due  to  a  Jew,  a  Turk,  or  a 
pagan. " 

The  day  came  (in  1787)  when  Wesley  was  received  at  the 
Mansion  House  by  the  mayor  and  "the  chief  of  the  city,  being 
no  longer  bitter  enemies,  but  cordial  friends."  Methodism 
was  firmly  planted,  a  large  chapel  built,  and  Wesley  even 
feared,  only  five  years  from  the  date  of  the  riots,  that  Cork 
might  prove  "the  Capua  of  the  preachers," 

We  find  him  in  Dublin  in  1752  preaching  at  five  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  at  midday  attending  the  service  at  St.  Patrick's,  where 


2i6  John   Wesley  the  Methodist. 

he  is  shocked  at  the  "  careless  and  indecent  behavior  of  the 
congregation. "  At  Kinsale  he  preaches  in  a  grander  cathedral. 
On  the  hill  above  the  fort  was  a  deep  hollow  capable  of  con- 
taining three  thousand  people.  On  one  side  the  soldiers  cut 
with  their  swords  a  ledge  of  earth  which  served  as  a  pulpit, 
from  which  Wesley  preached  to  a  vast  multitude  who  sat  on 
the  grass. 

He  and  Christopher  Hopper  had  attempted  to  reach  Water- 
ford  in  1750,  but  the  ferryman,  fearing  the  mob  which  the 
notorious  Butler  had  gathered,  would  not  take  them  across  the 
Graimah  Ferry.  So  he  came  again  two  years  later,  heard 
Thomas  Walsh  preach  on  market  day  in  Irish,  and  preached, 
himself,  to  a  shouting,  cursing  crowd  at  the  courthouse. 
Eleven  years  later  he  again  faced  the  rioters  in  this  city,  and 
an  interesting  incident  is  related  in  the  diary  of  Samuel 
Wood,  a  preacher  of  a  later  date:  "I  shall  never  forget  the 
feelings  excited  within  me  when  I  was  hardly  five  years  old,  in 
April,  1773,  when  I  saw  that  venerable  servant  of  God,  the 
Rev.  John  Wesley,  shamefully  treated  by  a  rude  and  desperate 
mob  while  he  was  preaching  in  the  Bowling  Green,  Waterford. 
I  felt  all  my  blood  rushing  into  my  face.  I  stood  at  the  table 
upon  which  Mr.  Wesley  was  standing;  and  while  I  heard  the 
shouting  of  the  crowd,  and  saw  the  dead  animals  and  cabbage 
stalks  flying  around  his  hoary  head,  I  was  filled  with  pity  and 
horror.  I  wished  that  I  were  a  man.  I  clinched  my  little 
fists.  Some  person  came  to  remove  the  'child;'  but  'the 
child '  resisted  and  would  not  be  removed,  until  a  gentleman, 
afterward  well  known  as  Sir  John  Alcock  rushed  forward,  took 
Mr.  AVesley  in  his  arms  off  the  table  and  conveyed  him  in  safety 
to  Mr.  Scott's.  He  [Mr.  Wesley]  afterward  inquired  who  '  the 
child '  was  who  so  bravely  stood  by  the  table.  I  was  brought 
to  him.  He  put  both  his  hands  upon  my  head  and  blessed  me, 
in  the  presence  of  my  mother.      Dear  Mr.  Wesley  must  have 


Ireland,  Scotland,  and  Wales. 


217 


been  seriously  injured  but  for  the  manly  intervention  of  Mr. 
Alcock.  Such  was  my  first  sight  of,  and  such  my  first  intro- 
duction to,  my  venerable  and  much- beloved  father  and  friend, 
the  Rev.  John  Wesley.      This  outrage,  I  afterward  learned,  was 


Views  in  Aberdeen. 


The  college  staircase. 

Marischal  College,  where  Wesley  preached,  1761 


The  college. 


excited  and  encouraged  by  a  superstitious  faction  of  some  mer- 
cantile reputation  in  the  city  of  Waterford,  which  faction  soon 
melted  away,  like  hail  in  summer.  God  visited  them  suddenly 
^nd  awfvilly. 


2i8  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

' '  The  next  evening  Mr.  Wesley  preached  in  John  Street, 
'  Sir  Charles's  Yard, '  as  it  was  called  in  Waterford ;  and  there, 
before  the  gate,  a  wretched  vagrant  was  dressed  up  in  a  white 
shirt  and  a  flaxen  wig,  placed  upon  a  table,  and  was  singing 
ribald  songs." 

In  Limerick,  Wesley  preached  to  the  Palatines,  those  German 
Protestant  refugees  who  had  been  allowed  to  settle  there  a  gen- 
eration before.  The  Methodist  doctrine  and  order  took  hold 
upon  them,  and  from  among  them  went  out  Philip  Embury 
and  Barbara  Heck,  who,  with  Robert  Strawbridge,  another 
native  of  Ireland,  were  to  plant  Methodism  in  New  York  and 
Maryland,  and  open  the  way  for  the  widest  extension  of 
Methodism. 

Scotland  first  heard  of  Methodism  through  a  handful  of 
Methodist  soldiers  at  Musselburgh,  near  Edinburgh. 

Wesley  first  visited  Scotland  in  1751,  at  the  entreaty  of  his 
friend  Colonel  Gallatin,  who  was  quartered  at  Musselburgh. 
Moore  tells  us  that  Whitefield  had  urged  him  not  to  go,  saying 
that  he  would  have  '  *  nothing  to  do  but  to  dispute  from  morning 
to  night."  Wesley,  however,  went  his  way,  resolving  to  avoid 
controversy.  His  companion  was  Christopher  Hopper,  who 
had  been  among  his  brother's  curious  hearers  at  Tanfield  Cross, 
Newcastle.  At  Musselburgh  a  large  congregation  "remained 
as  statues  from  the  beginning  of  the  sermon  to  the  end," 
though  they  were  said  to  be  grossly  inattentive  when  in  their 
own  kirk. 

At  Edinburgh,  Wesley  says  he  "used  great  plainness  of 
speech  toward  them,  and  they  all  received  it  in  love ;  so  that  the 
prejudice  which  the  devil  had  been  several  years  planting  was 
torn  up  by  the  roots  in  one  hour.  After  preaching,  one  of  the 
bailies  of  the  town,  with  one  of  the  elders  of  the  kirk,  came  to 
me  and  begged  I  would  stay  with  them  awhile,  if  it  were  but 
two  or  three  days,  and  they  would  fit  up  a  far  larger  place  than 


Ireland,  Scotland,  and  Wales.  219 

the  school,  and  prepare  seats  for  the  congregation.     Had  not 
my  time  been  fixed,  I  should  gladly  have  complied." 

Wesley  visited  Scotland  again  in  1753,  when  Dr.  Gillies,  of 
Glasgow,  courteously  offered  him  his  pulpit.  "  Surely, "  said 
Wesley,  * '  with  God  nothing  is  impossible !  Who  would  have 
believed,  five  and  twenty  years  ago,  either  that  the  minister 
would  have  desired  it  or  that  I  should  consent  to  preach  in  a 
Scotch  kirk!"  He  preached  also  in  the  open  air  to  crowds, 
who  stood  listening  even  in  the  rain.  Hopeful  at  first,  he  soon 
learned  that  respectful  attention  covered  much  indifference,  or 
difference  of  opinion;  but  he  found  those  who  joined  the  society 
were  reliable  in  character.  "  Steadiness,  indeed,"  says  Moore, 
"he  looked  for  in  the  people  of  North  Britain." 

At  Aberdeen,  in  1761,  Wesley  preached  to  avast  crowd  in 
the  college  close,  and  about  twenty  were  added  to  the  society. 
Before  noon  on  Monday  morning,  he  says,  "twenty  more  came 
to  me  desiring  to  cast  in  their  lot  with  us;"  and  as  he  was 
looking  at  the  King's  College,  shortly  after,,  one  of  a  large 
party  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  came  to  him  and  said,  "We 
came  last  night  to  the  college  close,  but  could  not  hear,  and 
should  be  extremely  obliged  if  you  would  give  us  a  short  dis- 
course here."  "I  knew  not,"  says  Wesley,  "what  God  might 
have  to  do,  and  so  began  without  delay  on  '  God  was  in  Christ, 
reconciling  the  world  unto  himself. '  I  believe  the  word  was 
not  lost — it  fell  as  dew  on  the  tender  grass.  In  the  afternoon 
I  was  walking  in  the  library  of  the  Marischal  College  when  the 
principal  and  the  divinity  professor  came  to  me,  and  the  latter 
invited  me  to  his  lodgings,  where  I  spent  an  hour  very  agree- 
ably. In  the  evening  the  eagerness  of  the  people  made  them 
ready  to  trample  each  other  under  foot.  It  was  some  time 
before  they  were  still  enough  to  hear,  but  then  they  devoured 
every  word. "  In  the  evening  the  professors  and  magistrates  at- 
tended the  service.    Wesley  left  ninety  members  in  the  society. 


220  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

On  two  later  visits  to  Edinburgh  we  find  him  preaching  in 
the  High  School  yard  and  on  Calton  Hill,  until,  in  1766,  he 
reports  a  service  in  ' '  the  new  room,  a  large  and  commodious 
building. " 

His  summary  of  what  he  said  at  Dundee  in  answer  to  objec- 
tions to  Methodist  work  in  Scotland,  in  1766,  is  so  important 
that  it  must  be  given  in  full.     He  writes:   "  The  sum  of  what  I 


„,0"^:i 


^^"'"W/J'-Trvj^  y  :  :~-'  "S. 


House  in  Carnarvon. 
Wesley  lodged  here  on  his  visits  to  Wales,  1747,  1748,  1749. 

spoke  was  this :  '  I  love  plain  dealing.  Do  not  you  ?  I  will 
use  it  now.  Bear  with  me.  I  hang  out  no  false  colors;  but 
show  you  all  I  am,  all  I  intend,  all  I  do.  I  am  a  member 
of  the  Church  of  England;  but  I  love  good  men  of  every 
Church.  My  ground  is  the  Bible.  Yea,  I  am  a  Bible  bigot.  I 
follow  it  in  all  things,  both  great  and  small.  Therefore  I 
always  use  a  short  private  prayer  when  I  attend  the  public 
service  of  God.     Do  not  you  ?     Why  do  you  not  ?     Is  not  this 


Ireland,  Scotland,  and  Wales.  221 

according  to  the  Bible  ?  I  stand  whenever  I  sing  the  praise  of 
God  in  public.  Does  not  the  Bible  give  you  plain  precedents 
for  this  ?  I  always  kneel  before  the  Lord  my  Maker  when  1 
pray  in  public.  I  generally  use  the  Lord's  Prayer,  because 
Christ  has  taught  me  when  1  pray  to  say  ... '  I  advise  every 
preacher  connected  with  me,  whether  in  England  or  Scotland, 
herein  to  tread  in  my  steps!  "  At  Dundee  he  found  a  society 
of  sixty  members. 

At  Edinburgh  again,  on  the  following  Sunday  morning  at 
five  o'clock,  he  had  a  larger  congregation  than  he  had  ever 
seen  before,  and  he  remarks — probably  in  view  of  the  idea  that 
the  Scotch  can  only  be  reached  by  elaborate  polemical  and  pro- 
found discourses— "  It  is  scarce  possible  to  speak  too  plain  in 
England;  but  it  is  scarce  possible  to  speak  plain  enough  in 
Scotland.  And  if  you  do  not,  you  lose  all  your  labor ;  you  plow 
upon  the  sand." 

Controversies  over  doctrinal  points  made  the  progress  of  the 
Scottish  societies  slower  than  that  in  other  parts  of  the  British 
Isles. 

On  several  occasions  he  was  present  as  a  spectator  at  the 
meeting  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Kirk  of  Scotland. 
He  was  shocked  at  the  behavior  of  many  of  the  members,  and 
he  declares,  "  Had  any  preacher  behaved  so  at  our  Conference, 
he  would  have  had  no  more  place  among  us."  At  Edinburgh 
many  of  the  ministers  attended  the  services  which  he  held  during 
the  session,  and  he  had  pleasant  intercourse  with  some  of  them. 
Moore  tells  us  that  Mr.  Wardrobe,  minister  of  Bathgate, 
preached  at  Wesley's  Chapel  at  Newcastle,  to  the  no  small 
amazement  and  displeasure  of  some  of  his  zealous  countrymen. 
It  was  not  Wesley's  fault  that  his  fellowship  with  many  other 
excellent  Scotch  ministers  was  interrupted  by  the  Calvinistic 
controversy, 

John  Wesley  preached  his  first  sermon  in  Wales  on  October 


222  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

^5>  ^739f  on  the  little  green  at  the  foot  of  the  Devauden  Hill 
near  Chepstow.  Wesley's  first  convert  was  a  poor  woman  who 
had  walked  six  miles  to  hear  him,  and  followed  him  to  Aberga- 
venny, Usk,  and  Pontypool,  found  peace,  and  stood  by  his  side 
at  Cardiff,  the  wave-sheaf  of  an  abundant  harvest.  At  Cardiff 
he  preached  in  the  shire  hall,  and  on  later  visits  in  the  castle 
yard.  As  he  explained  the  last  six  beatitudes  he  tells  us  that 
his  heart  was  so  enlarged  that  he  knew  not  how  to  give  over,  so 
he  ' '  continued  three  hours. "  At  'Cardiff  was  formed  the  mother 
church,  and  here  Wesley  opened  his  first  chapel  in  Wales  on 
May  6,  1743.  The  Calvinistic  wing  of  Methodism,  led  by  such 
splendid  evangelists  as  Howell  Harris  and  George  Whitefield 
was  first  in  the  field  and  has  always  been  predominant  in  Wales. 


The  Work  beyond  the  Sea.  223 


CHAPTER  XVI. 
The  Wof k  beyond  the  Sea. 

Methodism  in  1769. — An  American  Offshoot. —Shall  Wesley  Go?— Politi- 
cal Pamphlets. — Wesley  to  Lord  North. — A  Calm  Address  — 
A  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  for  America. 

H  DOZEN  years  ago  there  came  to  light  a  letter  written 
by  John  Wesley  in  1769  to  John  Liden,  a  professor  in 
Lund  University,  in  Sweden,  and  giving  in  orderly 
arrangement  the  condition  of  Methodism  as  it  existed  in  that 
year. 

The  sixth  paragraph  alludes  to  the  work  in  America :  ' '  There 
are  only  three  Methodist  societies  in  America:  one  at  Phila- 
delphia, one  at  New  York,  and  one  twelve  miles  from  it.  There 
are  five  preachers  there ;  two  have  been  at  New  York  for  some 
years;  three  are  lately  gone  over.  Mr.  Whitefield  has  pub- 
lished a  particular  account  of  everything  relative  to  the  Orphan 
House  (in  Georgia)." 

The  first  societies  in  New  York  and  Maryland  were  the 
result  of  the  independent  labors  of  emigrants  who  had  been 
converted  in  Ireland.  Appeals  came  from  the  new  societies 
urging  Mr.  Wesley  to  send  them  regular  Conference  preach- 
ers. In  the  Leeds  Conference  of  1769  Question  XIII  is  as  fol- 
lows :  ' '  We  have  a  pressing  call  from  our  brethren  at  New 
York  (who  have  built  a  preaching  house)  to  come  over  and  help 
them.     Who  is  willing  to  go  ?  " 

A  young  man,  apparently  far  gone  in  consumption,  rose  up 
in  his  place  in  the  gallery  and  said,  "  If  you  will  send  me,  sir, 
I  will  go  in  the   name  of  the   Lord. "     Immediately  another 


224  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

young  man,  also  in  the  gallery,  got  np  and  said,  "Sir,  if  you 
will  send  me,  I  will  go  with  Brother  Pilmoor. "  This  second 
volunteer  was  Richard  Boardman 

Then  came  Question  XIV:  "What  can  we  do  further  in 
token  of  our  brotherly  love  ?  "  Answer:  "  Let  us  now  make  a 
collection  among  ourselves."  (This  was  immediately  done.) 
Question  XV:  "What  is  the  w^hole  debt  remaining?" 
Answ'er:  "Between  five  and  six  thousand  pounds."  So  with 
a  heavy  debt  on  one  hand  and  no  reserve  for  contingent  ex- 
penses on  the  other,  the  great  American  Mission  began  in  the 
British  Conference. 

Lloyd's  Evening  Post,  of  May  26,  1769,  had  some  fun  at  the 
expense  of  this  departure.  The  public  were  sarcastically 
informed  that  the  following  promotions  in  the  Church  were 
about  to  be  declared:  "The  Rev.  G.  Whitefield,  Archbishop 
of  Boston,  Rev  W.  Romaine,  Bishop  of  New  York;  Rev.  J. 
Wesley,  Bishop  of  Pennsylvania;  Rev.  W.  Madan,  Bishop  of 
the  Carolinas;  Rev.  W,  Shirley,  Bishop  of  Virginia;  and  Rev. 
C.  Wesley,  Bishop  of  Nova  Scotia." 

Wesley  w^as  greatly  moved  by  the  reports  which  came  to  him 
from  the  American  envoys,  Boardman  and  Pilmoor.  He  wrote : 
"  It  is  not  yet  determined  if  I  should  go  to  America  or  not.  I 
have  been  importuned  for  some  time ;  but  ;///  sat  firvii  video. 
I  must  have  a  clear  call  before  I  am  at  liberty  to  leave  Europe." 
Referring  to  this  period,  Mr.  Tyerman  remarks:  "  Wesley  had 
nearly  arrived  at  the  age  of  threescore  years  and  ten;  but  if 
his  way  had  opened,  he  would  have  bounded  off  across  the 
Atlantic  with  as  little  anxiety  as  he  w-as  accustomed  to  trot  to 
the  hospitable  Perronet  home  at  Shoreham."  The  obstacles, 
however,  were  insurmountable.  There  was  no  one  during  his 
absence  to  take  his  place  as  superintendent  general  of  the 
societies  in  Britain,  and  to  this  must  be  added  the  strong 
objections  of  the  people  to  let  him  go. 


The  Work  beyond  the  Sea. 


225 


"If  I  go  to  America,"  said  he,  "I   must  do  a  thing  which  I 
hate  as  bad  as  I  hate  the  devil." 

"  What  is  that  ?  "  asked  his  friend. 

"I  cannot  keep  a  secret,"   he  answered;  meaning  that  he 
must  conceal  his  purpose,  otherwise  his  societies  would  inter 
fere  and  effectually  prevent  his  going. 

Twelve  months  later  he  wrote  to  Mrs.  Marston,  of  Worces- 
ter:   "If   I  live   till   spring,  and   should  have  a  clear,  pressing 


The  Old  Boggart  House,  Leeds. 

Where  the  Conference  of  1769  was  held,  in  which  the  first  Wesleyan  missionaries 
volunteered  for  America. 


call,  I  am  as  ready  to  embark  for  America  as  for  Ireland.  All 
places  are  alike  to  me.  I  am  attached  to  none  in  particular. 
Wherever  the  work  of  our  Lord  is  to  be  carried  on,  that  is  my 
place  for  to-day.  And  we  live  only  for  to-day.  It  is  not  our 
part  to  take  thought  for  to-morrow." 

Rumors  spread,  both  in  America  and  England,  that  Wesley 
had  decided  to  go  and  "turn  bishop;"  and  he  wrote  later  to 
Walter  Sellon:  "Dear  Walter,  you  do  not  understand  your 
information  right.  Observe,  '  I  am  going  to  America  to  turn 
bishop.'  You  are  to  understand  it  in  scnsti  composito.  I  am 
15 


226  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

not  to  be  a  bishop  till  I  am  in  America.  While  I  am  in  Europe, 
therefore,  you  have  nothing  to  fear;  but  as  soon  as  ever  you 
hear  of  my  being  landed  in  Philadelphia  it  will  be  time  for 
your  apprehension  to  revive.  It  is  true  some  of  our  preachers 
would  not  have  me  stay  so  long,  but  I  keep  my  old  rule :  Fcs- 
tifia  lente. " 

For  several  years  the  Conference  continued  to  appoint  volun- 
teers to  America.  In  1770  the  name  of  young  Francis  Asbury 
was  read  out — the  man  who,  under  God,  was  to  lay  the  foun- 
dations of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  when  the  troubles 
between  the  king  and  the  colonies  should  have  led  to  the  War 
of  Independence. 

It  was  Wesley's  way  to  maintain  a  deep  interest  in  all  events 
which  touched  the  national  life.  When  the  kingdom  was 
agitated  by  fears  of  a  French  invasion,  in  1756,  Wesley,  ever 
practical,  proposed  to  raise  five  hundred  volunteers,  supported 
by  contributions,  ready  to  act  for  a  year  in  case  of  invasion. 
They  were  to  be  supplied  with  arms  from  the  Tower  and  to  be 
drilled  by  one  of  the  king's  sergeants.  The  offer  does  not 
appear  to  have  been  accepted.  During  the  Seven  Years'  War 
the  Methodists  observed  the  national  fasts  and  united  in  con- 
stant intercession. 

The  parliamentary  elections  of  the  day  were  often  riotous. 
We  find  Wesley  "hastening  to  Bristol  on  account  of  the  elec- 
tion" in  1756.  He  called  all  the  freemen  of  the  society  together 
after  preaching,  and  "enlarged  a  little  on  his  majesty's  charac- 
ter, and  the  reasons  we  had  to  spare  no  pains  in  his  service," 
with  a  view  to  persuading  some  of  them  to  vote  for  John  Spen- 
cer, who  was  opposing  Jarrit  Smith,  a  suspected  Jacobite.  This 
at  least  reveals  the  loyalty  of  the  Wesleys  to  King  George. 
"The  whole  city  is  in  confusion,"  writes  Wesley  to  Mr.  Black- 
well.  "  O  what  a  pity  there  could  not  be  some  way  of 
managing  elections  of  every  sort  without  this  embittering  of 


The  Work  beyond  the  Sea. 


227 


Englishmen  against  Englishmen,  and  kindling  fires  which  can- 
not be  quenched  in  many  years!  " 

About  1764  he  wrote  a  letter  to  the  societies  at  Bristol  in 
which  he  utters  a  noble  protest  against  political  corruption: 
"For God's  sake,  for  the  honor  of  the  Gospel,  for  your  coun- 
try's sake,  and  for  the  sake  of  your  own  souls,  beware  of 
bribery.  Before  you  see  me  again  the  trial  will  come  at  the  gen- 
eral election  for  members  of  Parliament.  On  no  account  take 
money  or  money's  worth.     Keep  yourself  pure.     Give,  not  sell, 


^- 


.,.<-::^-S?K 


Wesley  Chapel,  "  Old  John  Street  Church,"  New  York. 
The  preaching  house,  which  stands  back  from  the  street,  was  built  in  1768. 

your  vote.  Touch  not  the  accursed  thing,  lest  it  bring  a  blast 
upon  you  and  your  household. "  He  asserts  that  this  political 
morality  is  essential  "to  your  retaining  the  life  of  faith,  and 
the  testimony  of  a  good  conscience."  Such  was  the  ethical 
teaching  of  the  leader  of  the  Great  Revival. 

Wesley's  first  political  pamphlet  was  directed  against  John 
Wilkes,  M.P.,  the  editor  of  the  North  Briton,  whose  blundering 
arrest  by  the  government  made  him  a  popular  hero.  Wesley 
says  of  himself  that  politics  were  beyond  his  province,  but  he 


228  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

uses  "the  privilege  of  an  Englishman  to  speak  his  naked 
thoughts."  "  I  have  no  bias,  one  way  or  the  other.  I  have  no 
interest  depending.  I  want  no  man's  favor,  having  no  hopes, 
no  fears,  from  any  man."  We  may  question  if  Wesley  were 
unbiased,  but  of  his  disinterestedness  there  can  be  no  doubt. 
He  defends  the  character  of  the  king,  though  later  we  find  him 
opposed  to  his  American  policy.  He  sees  that  the  rule  of 
"King  Wilkes"  means  the  rule  of  "King  Mob."  Wesley's 
pamphlet  was  published  in  1768.  Next  year  the  celebrated 
Letters  of  Junius  appeared  in  the  Public  Advertiser,  and  polit- 
ical excitement  rose  to  fever  heat.  The  attempt  to  tax  the 
American  colonies  by  the  notorious  Stamp  Act — an  infringe- 
ment of  the  principle  "no  taxation  without  representation" — 
and  the  imposition  of  other  obnoxious  duties  after  its  enforced 
repeal,  were  producing  the  ferment  which  resulted  in  the  Amer- 
ican War  of  Independence. 

The  scenes  and  passions  of  the  American  Revolution  are  now 
viewed  by  Englishmen  in  lengthening  perspective  and  in  clear- 
er light.  But  many  of  the  most  honest  Christian  Englishmen 
of  that  day  could  not  see  through  the  smoke  of  fratricidal  war 
and  party  fnry,  as  the  little  band  of  Methodist  preachers  in 
America  proved  to  their  cost. 

Even  Wesley's  vision  became  dim  in  the  thick  of  the  storm. 
During  the  first  two  years  of  the  Revolution  he  was  in  sympa- 
thy with  the  colonists.  On  June  15,  1775,  he  wrote  his  now 
famous  letter  to  Lord  North  and  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth.  This 
letter  was  consigned  to  an  official  pigeonhole,  and  was  first 
printed  in  full  nearly  a  century  later  by  Dr.  George  Smith. 
It  has  often  been  quoted  since,  notably  by  Bancroft,  who,  how- 
ever, was  misled  as  to  its  place  in  the  story  of  Wesley's  political 
change  of  view.  "In  spite  of  all  my  long- rooted  prejudices," 
writes  Wesley,  "  I  cannot  avoid  thinking,  if  I  think  at  all,  that 
an  oppressed  people   asked  for  nothing  more  than  their  legal 


The  Work  beyond  the  Sea. 


229 


rights,  and  that  in  the   most  modest  and  inoffensive  manner 
that  the  nature  of  the  thing  would  allow.      But  waiving  this, 


The  First  Methodist  Chapels  in  Maryland. 
Bush  Chapel  and  Stone  Chapel,  where  Robert  Strawbridge  preached  the  Gospel. 

waiving  all  considerations  of  right  and  wrong,  I  ask,  Is  it  com- 
mon sense  to  use  force  toward  the  Americans  ?  Whatever  has 
been  affirmed,  these  men  will  not  be  frightened;  and  it  seems 


230  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

they  will  not  be  conquered  so  easily  as  was  at  first  imagined. 
They  will  probably  dispute  every  inch  of  ground,  and,  if  they 
die,  die  sword  in  hand.  Indeed,  some  of  our  valiant  officers 
say,  '  Two  thousand  men  will  clear  America  of  these  rebels. ' 
No,  nor  twenty  thousand,  be  they  rebels  or  not,  nor  perhaps 
treble  that  number.  They  are  as  strong  men  as  you;  they  are 
as  valiant  as  you,  if  not  abundantly  more  valiant,  for  they  are 
one  and  all  enthusiasts — enthusiasts  for  liberty;  and  we  know 
how  this  principle  breathes  into  softer  souls  stern  love  of  war, 
and  thirst  of  vengeance,  and  contempt  of  death.  We  know 
men,  animated  with  this  spirit,  will  leap  into  fire  or  rush  into 
a  cannon's  mouth.  *  But  they  have  no  discipline. '  Already 
they  have  near  as  much  as  our  army,  and  they  will  learn  more 
of  it  every  day,  so  in  a  short  time  they  will  understand  it  as 
well  as  their  assailants.  *  But  they  are  divided  among  them- 
selves.' So  you  are  informed.  So,  doubt  not,  was  Rehoboam 
informed  concerning  the  ten  tribes.  So,  nearer  our  own  times, 
was  Philip  informed  concerning  the  people  of  the  Netherlands. 
No,  my  lord,  they  are  terribly  united.  Not  in  the  province  of 
New  England  only,  but  down  as  low  as  the  Jerseys  and  Penn- 
sylvania. The  bulk  of  the  people  are  so  united  that  to  speak 
a  word  in  favor  of  the  present  English  measures  would  almost 
endanger  a  man's  life.  Those  who  informed  me  of  this,  one 
of  whom  was  with  me  last  week,  lately  come  from  Philadel- 
phia, are  no  sycophants ;  they  say  nothing  to  curry  favor.  But 
they  speak  with  sorrow  of  heart  what  they  have  seen  with  their 
own  eyes  and  heard  with  their  own  ears. 

"These  men  think,  one  and  all,  be  it  right  or  wrong,  that 
they  are  contending /r^  aris  et  focis  ;  for  their  wives,  children, 
and  liberty.  What  an  advantage  have  they  herein  over  many 
that  fight  only  for  pay!  none  of  whom  care  a  straw  for  the 
cause  wherein  they  are  engaged ;  most  of  whom  strongly  dis- 
approve of  it.     Have  they  not  another  considerable  advantage? 


The  Work  beyond  the  Sea.  231 

Their  supplies  are  at  hand  and  all  round  about  them.  Ours  are 
three  thousand  miles  off!  Are  we  then  able  to  conquer  the 
Americans,  suppose  they  are  left  to  themselves;  suppose  all  our 
neighbors  should  stand  stock-still  and  leave  us  and  them  to 
fight  it  out?  But  we  are  not  sure  of  this.  Nor  are  we  sure 
that  all  our  neighbors  will  stand  stock-still." 

The  statesmen  did  not  heed  Wesley's  warning.  "His  sol- 
emn predictions  were  fulfilled. "  *'  To-day  his  letter  reads  like 
a  history  rather  than  a  prophecy, "  are  the  comments  of  Buck- 
ley and  McTyeire,  as  they  look  down  the  vista  of  the  century. 

But  Wesley's  view  of  the  question  between  England  and  her 
colonies  changed  after  he  had  read  Dr.  Samuel  Johnson's  Tax- 
ation no  Tyranny,  published  in  the  autumn  of  1775.  He  was 
convinced  by  that  pamphlet  that  the  colonists  should  be  con- 
tent with  the  military  and  naval  protection  of  the  mother  coun- 
try, and  with  obedience  to  its  laws,  without  a  vote  in  lawmak- 
ing and  administration.  Wesley  published  an  abridgment  of 
Dr.  Johnson's  pamphlet,  under  the  title  of  A  Calm  Address  to 
our  American  Colonies,  naming  the  source  of  his  tract  only  in 
a  second  edition. 

Johnson  wrote  to  Wesley  thanking  him  for  his  "important 
suffrage  to  my  argument  on  the  American  question.  To  have 
gained  such  a  man  as  yourself  may  justly  confirm  me  in  my  own 
opinion.  What  effect  my  paper  has  upon  the  pviblic  I  know 
not;  but  I  have  no  reason  to  be  discouraged.  The  lecturer 
was  surely  in  the  right  who,  though  he  saw  his  audience  slink- 
ing away,  refused  to  quit  the  chair  while  Plato  stayed." 

Next  year  Wesley  published  another  pamphlet,  entitled 
Some  Observations  on  Liberty.  The  able  American  editor  of 
Wesley's  works,  John  Emory,  expresses  in  a  footnote  the  strong 
and  decided  American  disapprobation  of  Wesley's  views.  Dr. 
Buckley  regards  Wesley  as  ' '  absolutely  honest,  but  his  training 
and  mode  of  thought  made  it  impossible  for  him  to  sympathize 


232 


John  Wesley   the  Methodist. 


with  the  colonists  from  the  moment  they  determined  upon  rev- 
olution, and  his  horror  of  war  intensified  his  feelings."    Bishop 


ADDRESS 

T    O 

•0  U,Ji.     AMERICAN 

COLONIES. 


By    70//.V  rVSSLEi;    M.  A, 


>  ViRC.It, 


A    NEW  EDITION-,    CORRLCTiD,    A»D  ENLASCEC* 


LONDON, 
rriuKti   by   RosF.KT   Hawes,   the    Corner  of 
^         DerfnStrrei,  Crifpin-Strecr,  Spiialfidjf, 
And  fvU  at  Uit  FxuuJry,  Afiorf  c:Jj. 


,-a 


Title-page  of  Wesley's  "Calm  Address." 

Which  embittered  American  feeling  against  his  preachers. 

McTyeire  well  remarks  on  the  extreme  infelicity  of  the  case 
that,  while  the  letter  to  Lord  North  lay  buried  in  the  state 


The  Work  beyond  the  Sea.  233 

archives  for  nearly  a  century,  the  Address  to  the  Colonics  was 
published  by  tens  of  thousands  of  copies,  creating  serious  diffi- 
culties for  the  American  preachers. 

With  characteristic  wisdom  and  charity  Asbury  thus  com- 
ments on  an  "affectionate"  letter  which  he  received  from 
Wesley:  "  I  am  truly  sorry  that  the  venerable  man  ever 
dipped  into  the  politics  of  America.  My  desire  is  to  live  in 
love  and  peace  with  all  men ;  to  do  them  no  harm,  but  all  the 
good  I  can.  However,  it  discovers  Mr.  Wesley's  conscien- 
tious attachment  to  the  government  under  which  he  lives. 
Had  he  been  a  subject  of  America,  no  doubt  but  he  would 
have  been  as  zealous  an  advocate  of  the  American  cause.  But 
some  inconsiderate  persons  have  taken  occasion  to  censure  the 
Methodists  in  America  on  account  of  Mr.  Wesley's  political 
sentiments." 

The  independence  of  America  brought  Wesley  face  to  face 
with  a  new  problem.  The  American  Methodists  were  left 
without  an  ordained  ministry  capable  of  administering  the 
sacraments.  They  looked  to  Wesley  as  their  "father,"  and 
asked  what  they  should  do. 

The  crisis  was  reached  in  1784.  Thirty-eight  years  earlier, 
as  we  have  seen,  Wesley  had  renounced  the  High  Church 
dogma  of  apostolic  succession,  and  had  been  convinced  that 
in  the  primitive  Church  ' '  bishops  and  presbyters  were  of  the 
same  order,  and  consequently  have  the  same  right  to  ordain." 
He  now  proceeded  to  exercise  that  right.  The  Rev.  Dr. 
Thomas  Coke,  a  presbyter  of  the  Established  Church,  had 
been  for  six  years  a  Methodist  preacher.  In  his  study  at  City 
Road,  London,  Wesley  first  asked  Dr.  Coke  to  accept  episco- 
pal consecration  at  his  hands  and  become  "superintendent" 
(or  bishop)  of  the  societies  in  the  United  States.  Coke  asked 
for  time  to  consider  this  innovation  on  the  order  of  the 
Anglican  Church.     Wesley  cited  the  example  of  the  ancient 


234  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

Alexandrian  Church,  which  for  two  hundred  years  had  pro- 
vided its  bishops  through  ordination  by  its  presbyters.  Two 
months  passed  before  Coke  wrote  to  Wesley  accepting  his 
proposal,  though  still  suggesting  delay.  But  on  September 
I,  1784,  the  momentous  step  was  taken  at  Bristol.  Richard 
Whatcoat  thus  records  it  in  his  Journal:  "September  i,  1784, 
Rev.  John  Wesley,  Thomas  Coke,  and  James  Creighton, 
presbyters  of  the  Church  of  England,  formed  a  presbytery  and 
ordained  Richard  W^hatcoat  and  Thomas  Vasey  deacons,  and 
on  September  2,  by  the  same  hands,  etc.,  Richard  Whatcoat 
and  Thomas  Vasey  were  ordained  elders,  and  Thomas  Coke, 
LL.  D.,  was  ordained  superintendent  for  the  Church  of  God 
under  our  care  in  North  America." 

The  ordination  took  place  in  Mr.  Castleman's,  6  Dighton 
vStreet.  Wesley  commissioned  Dr.  Coke  to  ordain  and  consecrate 
Francis  Asbury  as  "joint  superintendent"  on  his  arrival  in 
America,  and  wrote  a  letter  for  circulation  among  the  socie- 
ties, which  concludes  with  the  significant  words:  "As  our 
American  brethren  are  now  totally  disentangled  both  from  the 
State  and  from  the  English  hierarchy,  we  dare  not  entangle 
them  again  either  with  the  one  or  the  other.  They  are  now 
at  full  liberty  simply  to  follow  the  Scriptures  and  primitive 
Church;  and  we  judge  it  best  that  they  should  stand  fast  in 
that  liberty  wherewith  God  has  so  strangely  made  them 
free." 

Charles  Wesley  was  shocked  by  what  he  considered  to  be 
a  breach  of  Church  order.  He  wrote  to  his  friend  Dr. 
Chandler:  "  I  can  scarcely  yet  believe  it,  that  in  his  eighty- 
second  year  my  brother,  my  old  and  intimate  companion  and 
friend,  should  have  assumed  the  episcopal  character,  ordained 
elders,  consecrated  a  bishop,  and  sent  him  to  ordain  our  lay 
preachers  in  America.  Lord  Mansfield  told  me  last  year  that 
ordination  was  separation."     He  wrote  to  his  brother  begging 


The  Ordained  Missionaries  to  America. 


Rev.  Thomas  Vasey.  Rev.  Richard  Whatcoat, 

Rev.  Thomas  Coke,  D.C.  L. 


The  Work  beyond  the  Sea.  237 

him,  before  he  had  quite  broken  down  the  bridge,  to  stop  and 
consider.  But  his  brother  had  considered  the  question  for 
forty  years,  and  the  extraordinary  need  of  America  was  not 
the  only  ground  of  his  action.  He  based  it  upon  Scripture, 
history,  and  reason.  "I  firmly  beHeve,"  he  replied,  "that  I 
am  a  scriptural  cpiscopos  as  much  as  any  man  in  England,  or 
in  Europe;  for  the  uninterrupted  succession  I  know  to  be  a 
fable  which  no  man  ever  did  or  can  prove. " 

Canon  Overton,  a  Churchman  who  considers  Wesley's  action 
to  have  been  utterly  wrong,  says  with  honorable  candor:  "It 
has  been  said  that  John  Wesley's  mental  powers  were  failing 
when  he  began  to  'set  apart'  his  preachers;  and  Charles  Wes- 
ley himself  has  countenanced  the  idea  by  exclaiming,  '  'Twas 
age  that  made  the  breach,  not  he!  '  But  there  really  appear  to 
be  no  traces  of  mental  decay  in  any  other  respects." 

Wesley  used  the  Latin  designation  "superintendent"  rather 
than  "bishop,"  the  more  accurate  rendering  of  the  Greek  cpis- 
copos.    The  latter  w^ord  was  associated  in   England  with  too 
much  secular  pomp  to  satisfy  his  simple  tastes.     It  was  not  his, 
wish  to  multiply  bishops  of  the  Anglican  type.      He  desired  al 
more  primitive  Church  order;  as  Dr.  Gregory  has  expressed  it,  ■ 
"not  prelatical,   but  presbyterial ;  not  hierarchical,  but  evan- i 
gelistic;  not  diocesan,  but  'itinerant.'"     The  term  bishop,  in 
this  primitive  sense,  was  afterward  adopted  by  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.     Wesley  raised  no  objection  to  the  designa- 
tion   "Episcopal,"   though  he   clung  tenaciously  to  his    term 
' '  superintendent. " 

The  history  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  shows  that 
Wesley's  fear  of  the  hierarchical  use  of  the  more  simple  and 
exact  term  "bishop  "  was  groundless.  Watson  has  well  stated 
Wesley's  position.  He  "never  did  pretend  to  ordain  bishops 
in  the  modern  sense,  but  only  according  to  his  view  of  primi- 
tive episcopacy  .   .    .   founded  upon  the  principle  of  bishops  and 


238  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

presbyters  being  of  the  same  degree ;  a  more  extended  office 
only  being  assigned  to  the  former,  as  in  the  primitive  Church. 
For,  though  nothing  can  be  more  obvious  than  that  the  primi- 
tive pastors  are  called  bishops  or  presbyters  indiscriminately  in 
the  New  Testament,  yet  at  an  early  period  those  presbyters 
were,  by  way  of  distinction,  denominated  bishops,  who  pre- 
sided in  the  meetings  of  the  presbyters,  and  were  finally 
invested  with  the  government  of  several  churches,  with  their 
respective  presbyteries;  so  that  two  offices  were  then,  as  in  this 
case,  grafted  upon  the  same  order,"  The  Methodist  bishops, 
says  Watson,  "have  in  practice  as  well  exemplified  the  primi- 
tive spirit  as  in  principle  they  were  conformed  to  the  primitive 
discipline." 


Traveler,   Preacher,   and  Philanthropist.  239 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

Traveler,  Preacher^  and  Philanthropist* 

Wesley's   Travels.— His   Preaching   Power.— The   Last    University   Ser- 
mon.— A  Pioneer  of  Benevolence. — Temperance.— Sunday 
Schools. — The  Press. — Hymns  and  Tunes. 

HT  seventy-two  John  Wesley  could  truthfully  say  to  Lord 
North  that  he  traveled  four  thousand  or  five  thousand 
miles  a  year  and  conversed  with  more  persons  of  every 
sort  than  anyone  else  in  the  three  kingdoms. 

Bad  as  the  roads  were  he  was  a  sturdy  pedestrian,  good 
for  his  five  and  twenty  miles  a  day,  reading  as  he  walked. 
Before  1773  he  made  most  of  his  long  journeys  on  horseback, 
and,  regardless  of  grace,  rode  with  loose  rein,  reading  history, 
poetry,  or  philosophy  from  the  book  in  his  uplifted  hand.  One 
June  day  in  1750  he  rode  ninety  miles  and  was  twenty  hours  in 
the  saddle,  using  two  horses. 

He  rode  with  a  slack  rein  for  above  one  hundred  thousand 
miles,  and  except  with  two  horses,  that  he  says  would  fall  "head 
over  heels"  anyway,  he  had  surprisingly  few  falls;  and  he 
recommends  the  use  of  a  loose  rein  to  all  travelers. 

When  his  friends  insisted  on  providing  him  with  a  chaise  he 
showed  the  same  determination  to  fulfill  every  appointment. 
The  old  Cornish  sexton,  Peter  Martin,  of  Helstone,  used  to 
tell  how,  when  he  was  ostler,  he  had  driven  Wesley  to  St. 
Ives.  When  they  reached  Hayle  the  sands  which  separated  them 
from  St.  Ives  were  covered  by  the  rising  tide.  A  captain  of  a 
vessel  came  up  and  begged  them  to  go  back  at  once.  Wesley 
said   he  must  go  on,  as  he   had  to  preach  at  a  certain  hour. 


240  John  Wesley  the  Methodist, 

Looking  out  of  the  window,  he  shouted,  "Take  the  sea!  Take 
the  sea!  "  Soon  the  horses  were  swimming,  and  the  poor  ostler 
expected  every  moment  to  bj  drowned;  but  Wesley  put  his 
head  out  of  the  window— his  long  white  hair  was  dripping  with 
the  salt  water. 

"What  is  your  name,  driver  ?  "  he  asked. 
"  Peter,"  said  the  man. 

"  Peter,"  he  said,  "fear  not;  thou  shalt  not  sink." 
At  last  the  driver  got  his  carriage  safely  over.  Wesley's 
first  care,  ho  says,  was  "to  see  me  comfortably  lodged  at  the 
tavern;  "  he  secured  warm  clothing,  good  fire,  and  refreshment 
for  his  driver,  then,  totally  unmindful  of  himself,  and  drenched 
as  he  was  with  the  dashing  waves,  he  proceeded  to  the  chapel, 
where  he  preached  according  to  appointment.  He  was  then  in 
his  eighty- third  year. 

Although  he  read  as  he  traveled,  nothing  seemed  to  escape 
his  observation.  His  journals  are  alive  with  critical  notes  on 
men  and  manners,  nature  and  art. 

Wesley's  headquarters  for  England  were  London,  where  he 
spent  several  months  every  year;  Bristol,  in  the  west,  with  the 
neighboring  Kingswood  School  as  his  home  in  later  life;  and 
Newcastle,  with  the  hospitable  Orphanage  House,  in  the  north. 
He  itinerated  by  a  careful  plan,  to  avoid  all  waste  of  labor.  He 
concentrated  his  preaching  on  the  most  thickly  populated  parts 
of  England,  though  he  visited  many  villages  by  the  way. 
Miners  and  colliers,  weavers  and  spinners,  artisans  and  labor- 
ers, formed  the  backbone  of  his  societies,  with  a  strong  contin- 
gent of  commercial  men  and  a  few  doctors  and  lawyers. 

Wesley  as  a  preacher  possessed  many  natural  advantages,  as 
the  accounts  of  him  by  John  Nelson  and  Dr.  Kennicott  have 
shown  us.  His  expressive  features,  his  vivid  eye,  his  clear 
voice,  and  manly,  graceful  carriage  made  his  hearers  either 
forget  his  small  stature  or  wonder  that  a  frame  so  slight  should 


Traveler,    Preacher,    and  Philanthropist.  243 

enshrine  a  manhood  so  sturdy.  When  he  preached  at  Hull  in 
his  old  age,  in  the  largest  parish  church  in  England,  he  was 
well  heard.  In  the  open  air  his  voice  reached  the  outskirts  of 
the  vast  crowds.  One  of  his  favorite  preaching  places  was  in 
Cornwall,  the  natural  amphitheater  at  Gwennap — "the  finest  I 
know  in  the  kingdom."  At  one  of  his  early  annual  services 
there  it  is  supposed  there  were  ten  thousand  people.  The 
service  continued  until  the  darkness  of  night  covered  the  vast 
assembly,  yet  there  was  "  the  deepest  attention;  none  speaking, 
stirring,  or  scarce  looking  aside." 

Wesley's  extraordinary  power  as  a  preacher  was  due  to  his 
simplicity,  his  force  of  argument,  his  grip  upon  the  reason  and 
conscience,  his  transparent  sincerity,  his  spirituality.  He  was 
not  an  impassioned  and  dramatic  orator,  like  Whitefield  He 
did  not,  like  his  brother  Charles,  melt  his  hearers  by  his  deep 
emotion  and  pathetic  appeals.  He  "  reasoned  of  sin  and  right- 
eousness and  judgment."  John  Nelson  witnesses  to  his  power 
of  making  the  "heart  beat  like  the  pendulum  of  a  clock;  I 
thought  he  spoke  to  no  one  but  me."  "This  man  can  tell  the 
secrets  of  my  heart;  he  hath  not  left  me  there,  for  he  hath 
shown  the  remedy,  even  the  blood  of  Jesus."  After  his  "day 
of  Pentecost  "  his  whole  man  was  "kindled  and  inspired  by  a 
divine  conviction  and  force,  and  he  preached  as  one  inspired," 
with  solemn  intensity  and  perfect  self-control,  to  crowds  swayed 
by  feelings  w^hich  found  expression  in  sobs  and  tears  and  out- 
cries of  prayer  or  praise. 

St.  John's  First  Epistle  was  his  model  of  style.  "  Here,"  he 
says,  "are  simplicity  and  sublimity  together,  the  strongest 
sense  and  the  plainest  language.  How  can  anyone  that  would 
speak  as  the  oracles  of  God  use  harder  words  than  are  found 
here  ?  "  He  advised  all  his  young  preachers  to  make  St.  John 
their  master. 

His  first  extempore   sermon   was   preached  in  All  Hallows 


244  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

Church,  Lombard  Street,  London.  In  1788  he  told  the  attend- 
ant, as  he  was  putting  on  his  gown  to  preach  again  in  the  same 
place,  "Sir,  it  is  above  fifty  years  since  I  first  preached  in  this 
church ;  I  remember  it  from  a  particular  circumstance.  I  came 
without  a  sermon,  and  going  up  the.  pulpit  stairs  I  hesitated, 
and  returned  into  the  vestry  under  much  mental  confusion  and 
agitation.  A  woman  who  stood  by  noticed  my  concern,  and 
said,  '  Pray,  sir,  what  is  the  matter  ? '  I  replied,  '  I  have  not 
brought  a  sermon  with  me. '  Putting  her  hand  on  my  shoulder, 
she  said,  '  Is  that  all  ?  Cannot  you  trust  God  for  a  sermon  ? '  " 
Her  question  went  home;  he  spoke  with  freedom,  and  from 
that  time  he  was  independent  of  manuscript. 

Sometimes,  as  we  have  seen,  he  preached  at  great  length  to 
hearers  who  never  wearied.  Sometimes  he  brought  forth  the 
treasures  of  ancient  philosophy  and  interwove  classical  passages 
of  point  and  beauty  into  his  sermons,  as  in  his  sermon  on  The 
Great  Assize,  preached  before  the  Judges  of  the  Common  Pleas 
at  Bedford. 

But  his  printed  sermons  as  a  rule  do  not  represent  the  energy 
and  directness  of  his  extempore  preaching  when  vast  crowds 
hung  upon  his  lips.  How  he  preached  in  the  open  air,  face  to 
face  with  a  raging  mob,  is  better  suggested  by  one  of  the  many 
entries  in  his  Journal:  "  I  called  for  a  chair.  The  winds  were 
hushed,  and  all  was  calm  and  still.  My  heart  was  filled  with 
love  and  my  mouth  with  arguments.  They  were  amazed;  they 
were  ashamed;  they  were  melted;  they  devoured  every  word." 

On  St.  Bartholomew's  Day,  August  24,  1744,  Wesley  was 
called  to  Oxford  to  take  his  turn  as  university  preacher. 
According  to  the  terms  of  his  fellowship  he  must  deliver  a 
sermon  in  St.  Mary's  Church  once  in  three  years  or  forfeit 
three  guineas.  He  had  preached  in  1738  and  1741,  but  now  he 
had  become  a  notable  figure,  and  great  interest  was  felt  in 
what  he  would  say.     The  church  is  filled  with  univ^ersity  dig- 


Traveler,  Preacher,  and  Philanthropist. 


245 


nitaries  and  townspeople.  William  Blackstone,  an  old  Charter- 
house boy,  like  the  preacher,  listens  and  makes  note  and 
comment  as  he  did  later  on  the  Common  Law.  An  observant 
undergraduate  in  the  gallery  remembers  that  "his  black  hair, 


i>»-t=^ 


Pulpit  of  St.  Paul's,  Bedford. 
Standing  here,  Wesley  preached  his  famous  sermon  on  The  Great  Assize.  1758. 

quite  smooth  and  parted  very  exactly,  added  to  a  peculiar  com- 
posure in  his  countenance,  showed  him  to  be  an  uncommon 
man.  His  prayer  was  short,  soft,  and  conformable  to  the  rules 
of  the  university.  His  text  (Acts  iv,  31),  'And  they  were  all 
filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost. '  He  spoke  the  text  very  slowly 
and  with  an  agreeable  emphasis." 


246  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

Then  followed  the  beautiful  description  of  scriptural  Chris- 
tianity, and  afterward  the  practical  application  which  gave 
such  dire  offense.  The  dignitaries  in  the  body  of  the  church 
grew  angry  and  restless,  although  the  touching  appeal  to  "  the 
venerable  men  "  who  were  responsible  for  the  guidance  of  the 
young  life  of  Oxford  was  based  on  facts  to  which  every  leading 
Oxford  man  of  that  centur}^  bears  painful  witness. 

John  Wesley  notes  in  his  Journal  that  it  was  St.  Bartholo- 
mew's Day,  and,  of  course,  the  anniversary  of  the  ejectment  of 
two  thousand  ministers  from  the  National  Church  by  the  Act 
of  Uniformity.  He  adds:  "  I  preached,  I  suppose,  the  last  time 
at  St.  Mary's.  Be  it  so.  I  am  now  clear  of  the  blood  of  these 
men.  I  have  delivered  my  own  soul.  The  beadle  came  to  me 
afterward  and  told  me  the  vice  chancellor  had  sent  him  for  my 
notes.  I  sent  them  without  delay,  not  without  admiring  the 
wise  providence  of  God.  Perhaps  few  men  of  note  would  have 
given  a  sermon  of  mine  the  reading  if  I  had  put  it  into  their 
hands;  but  by  this  means  it  came  to  be  read,  probably  more 
than  once,  by  every  man  of  eminence  in  the  university." 

Blackstone  also  wrote  of  the  sennce  in  a  letter  dated  August 
28,  1744:  "We  were  yesterday  entertained  at  Oxford  by  a 
Curious  Sermon  from  Wesley  Ye  Methodist.  Among  other 
equally  modest  particulars,  He  informed  us:  ist.  That  there 
was  not  one  Christian  among  all  ye  heads  of  Houses.  2ndly. 
That  Pride,  Gluttony,  Avarice,  Luxury,  Sensuality  and 
Drunkenness  were  ye  General  Characteristics  of  all  Fel- 
lows of  Colleges,  who  were  useless  to  a  proverbial  uselessness. 
Lastly,  that  ye  younger  part  of  ye  University  were  a  genera- 
tion of  triflers,  all  of  them  perjured,  and  not  one  of  them  of 
any  Religion  at  all.  His  notes  were  demanded  by  ye  Vice 
Chancellor,  but  on  mature  deliberation,  it  has  been  thought 
proper  to  punish  him  by  a  mortifying  neglect. " 

Wesley  visited  Oxford  many  times  afterward,  preaching  only 


Traveler,  Preacher,  and  Philanthropist.  247 


■     ^ .  _,. ^^m^_^^p^_ 


Glimpses  of  St.  Mary's,  Oxford. 

Porch,  with  statue  of  the  Virgin.  The  undergraduates'  gallery.  The  pulpit. 


248  John   Wesley  the  Methodist. 

in  a  room  or  chapel,  the  authorities  preferring  to  pay  for  a  sub- 
stitute rather  than  sit  again  under  his  searching  preaching. 
He  went  up  to  vote  for  a  member  of  Parliament  on  a  bitter 
day  in  January,  1 751,  at  the  request  of  the  rector  of  his  college, 
for  whom  he  cherished  warm  affection.  The  university  now 
was  changing  its  attitude  toward  Wesley,  and  he  says:  "  I  was 
much  surprised  wherever  I  went  at  the  civility  of  the  people, 
gentlemen  as  well  as  others.  There  was  no  pointing,  no  call- 
ing of  names,  no,  not  even  laughter.  What  can  this  mean  ? 
Am  I  become  the  servant  of  men?  Or  is  the  scandal  of  the 
cross  ceased?"  In  the  same  year,  on  Friday,  June  i,  after 
enjoying  his  fellowship  for  twenty-six  years,  he  resigned  it  of 
his  own  free  will. 

This  severed  his  official  connection  with  the  university,  but 
he  loved  it  to  the  last,  and  wrote  in  1778:  "  Having  an  hour  to 
spare,  I  walked  to  Christ- Church,  for  which  I  cannot  but  still 
retain  a  peculiar  affection.  What  lovely  mansions  are  these  I 
What  is  wanting  to  make  the  inhabitants  happy?  That  with- 
out which  no  rational  creature  can  be  happy,  the  experimental 
knowledge  of  God."  Two  years  later  he  said,  "I  love  the 
very  sight  of  Oxford;"  and  when  he  was  eighty  he  walked 
through  the  city,  which  was  "swiftly  improving  in  everything 
but  religion."  The  hall  at  Christ  Church,  the  Meadow,  Mag- 
dalen Walks,  and  the  White  Walk  still  filled  the  old  man  with 
admiration,  and  he  declared  them  finer  than  anything  he  had 
seen  in  Europe. 

In  1744  and  1745  England  was  panic-stricken  over  the  rumors 
of  a  French  invasion  to  place  the  exiled  Stuart  "  pretender"  on 
the  throne.  "Papists"  were  proclaimed  as  especially  per- 
nicious foes  of  the  king,  and  the  Methodists  fell  under  such 
suspicion  of  popery  that  John  Wesley  had  to  go  before  a  magis- 
trate and  take  the  oath  of  loyalty — as  no  one  could  do  with 
better  conscience.     Even  in  this  period  of  unrest  he  did  not 


Traveler,  Preacher,  and  Philanthropist.  249 

cease  from  his  journeyings  up  and  down  the  kingdom  from 
Cornwall  to  Newcastle. 

John  Wesley  was  a  pioneer  on  more  than  one  line  of  phi- 
lanthropy. The  colliers'  school  at  Kingswood  and  the  orphan 
house  at  Newcastle  were  early  manifestations  of  his  love  for  his 
fellows.  The  activities  which  centered  in  the  Foundry  remind 
the  modern  reader  of  that  very  modern  thing  "  the  institutional 
church. " 

At  the   Foundry  clothes  were  received  from  all  who  could 


The  Broad  Walk,  Christ  Church,  Oxford. 

spare  them,  and  were  distributed  among  the  poor.  The  society 
room  was  actually  turned  into  a  workshop  for  four  months, 
where  the  poorest  members  were  employed  in  carding  and 
spinning  cotton.  Soon  after,  all  the  women  who  were  out  of 
work  were  employed  in  knitting,  for  which  they  were  paid  the 
ordinary  price.  A  gratuity  was  added  to  the  earnings  in  cases 
where  the  family  need  was  great.  Twelve  persons  were 
appointed  to  inspect  the  work  and  to  visit  the  sick.     In  1743, 


250  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

in  the  great  London  society,  Wesley  appointed  forty-six  visitors 
whom  he  judged  to  be  sympathetic  and  capable  for  this  deli- 
cate work.  They  were  selected  from  a  company  of  volunteers. 
Dividing  the  metropolis  into  twenty-three  districts,  they  went 
two  by  two  into  the  homes  of  the  sick  three  times  a  week, 
relieving  their  wants  and  inquiring  concerning  their  souls. 
Their  accounts  were  presented  weekly  to  the  stewards.  Four 
plain  rules  were  laid  down:  i.  Be  plain  and  open  in  dealing 
with  souls.  2.  Be  mild,  tender,  and  patient.  3.  Be  clean  in 
all  you  do  for  the  sick.  4.  Be  not  nice.  Here  was  the  golden 
law:  "If  you  cannot  relieve,  do  not  grieve  the  poor;  give 
them  soft  words,  if  nothing  else;  abstain  from  either  sour  looks 
or  harsh  words.  Let  them  be  glad  to  come,  even  though  they 
should  go  empty  away.  Put  yourself  in  the  place  of  every 
poor  man,  and  deal  with  him  as  you  would  God  should  deal  with 
you."  Wesley  showed  characteristic  prudence  in  handling 
none  of  the  funds  himself.  The  Newcastle  Orphan  House, 
begun  in  1742,  and  built  by  faith  and  prayer,  became 
a  preaching  house,  a  children's  home,  a  place  of  rest 
for  workers,  a  school  where  Wesley  taught  rhetoric,  moral 
philosophy,  and  logic  to  his  young  preachers,  and  a  cen- 
ter of  evangelism  for  the  North  of  England.  The  West  Street 
Chapel  in  London  was  another  center  of  philanthropic  effort. 
A  Friendly  Union  Benefit  Society  was  formed.  The  front  par- 
lor of  the  house  was  used  as  a  soup  kitchen.  There  was  also  a 
charity  school  similar  to  that  of  which  vSilas  Told  was  master 
at  the  Foundry.  Methodist  women  prepared  linen  for  the 
children  to  wear,  and  formed  what  would  be  called  to-day  "a 
household  salvage  corps,"  collecting  cast-off  clothing  and  food 
for  the  poor.  There  are  touching  stories  of  outcast  women 
rescued  by  the  early  Methodists. 

But  the  boldest  step  was  the  founding  of  Wesley's  medical 
dispensaries  at  the  Foundry,  West  Street,  and  Bristol.     The 


Traveler,  Preacher,  and  Philanthropist. 


251 


sufferings  of  the  sick  poor  stirred  his  heart,  and  "  I  thought," 
says  Wesley,  "  of  a  kind  of  desperate  expedient;  I  will  prepare 
and  give  them  physic  myself."  For  six  or  seven  and  twenty 
years  he  had  made  anatomy  and  physic  the  diversion  of  his 
leisure  hours.  When  preparing  for  the  mission  to  Georgia  he 
studied  medicine;  now  he  applied  himself  again.  "  I  took  into 
my   assistance    an    apothecary   and    an   experienced    surgeon; 


West  Street  Chapel,  London. 


resolving  not  to  go  out  of  my  depth,  but  to  leave  all  difficult 
and  complicated  cases  to  such  physicians  as  the  patients  should 
choose."  In  six  months  six  hundred  cases  were  treated  in 
London,  The  Bristol  dispensary  soon  had  two  hundred 
patients.  In  1780  we  find  a  medical  man  in  attendance  twice 
a  week,  for  three  hours  each  day,  at  the  chapel  house  of  West 
Street.  Between  1746  and  1780  medical  science  and  surgery 
in  England  had  made  more  advance  than  in  all  the  previous 


252  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

part  of  the  century,  but  when  Wesley  commenced  both  were  in 
a  very  poor  condition.  A  twenty-third  edition  of  his  Primitive 
Physic  was  published  in  the  year  of  his  death,  in  which  many 
of  the  early  prescriptions  were  discarded,  but  some  of  the  reme- 
dies appear  very  "  primitive  "  and  amusing  in  the  present  day. 
Quick  to  perceive  the  practical  usefulness  of  electricity  as  a 
therapeutic  agent,  he  gave  electric  treatments  to  many  as  early 
as  1756.  We  can  hardly  claim  for  him  the  honor  of  founding 
aseptic  practice,  but  certainly  the  man  who  said  "  cleanliness  is 
next  to  godliness  "  was  not  far  from  it. 

In -a  dram-drinking  age  he  was  an  enemy  of  alcohol.  Even 
of  the  medicinal  value  of  liquors  he  said:  "They  maybe  of 
use  in  some  bodily  disorders,  although  there  would  rarely  be 
occasion  for  them  were  it  not  for  the  unskillfulness  of  the 
practitioner."  In  general  his  condemnation  of  the  use  of  beer, 
ale,  wines,  and  spirits  was  far  in  advance  of  public  opinion.  Of 
the  traffickers  in  liquor  he  said:  "All  who  sell  spirituous 
liquors  in  the  common  way,  to  any  that  will  buy,  are  poisoners 
general.  They  murder  his  majesty's  subjects  by  wholesale. 
They  drive  them  to  hell,  like  sheep.  And  what  is  their  gain  ? 
Is  it  not  the  blood  of  these  men  ? " 

He  advocated  prohibition  of  the  spirit  traffic.  In  1773,  when 
bread  was  at  famine  price,  and  great  poverty  prevailed,  one 
remedy  he  suggested  was  "prohibiting  forever,  by  making  a 
full  end  of  distilling."  "  What  will  become  of  the  revenue  ?  " 
shrieked  economists.  Wesley  wrote:  " True,  the  traffic  brings 
in  a  large  revenue  to  the  king,  but  is  this  an  equivalent  for  the 
lives  of  his  subjects  ?  Would  his  majesty  sell  one  hundred 
thousand  of  his  subjects  yearly  to  Algiers  for  ;^4oo,ooo?  Sure- 
ly, no.  Will  he,  then,  sell  them  for  that  sum  to  be  butchered 
by  their  own  countrymen  ?  O  tell  it  not  in  Constantinople 
that  the  English  raise  the  royal  revenue  by  selling  the  flesh  and 
blood  of  their  countrymen !  " 


Traveler,  Preacher,  and  Philanthropist. 


253 


In  1746  John  Wesley  established  a  "poor  man's  bank,"  col- 
lecting by  public  appeal  a  small  capital  to  lend  out  to  the  indus- 
trious poor.     He  started  with  some  ^30,  out  of  which  he  made 


The  Orphan  House,  Newcastle. 

Wesley's  attic  study,  old  Newcastle  Orphanage. 
The  Old  Orphan  House,  1742.  The  New  Orphan  House  and  Wesleyan  School. 


loans  of  twenty  shillings  each  to  two  hundred  and  fifty-five 
persons  in  eighteen  months.  The  loans  ran  three  months,  and 
were  repaid  by  weekly  installments.    One,  Lackington,  who  was 


254  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

thus  enabled  to  stock  a  book  stall,  worked  up  to  a  business  of 
^5,000  a  year  in  London. 

Prison  work  had  been  begun  by  Wesley  in  his  Oxford  days. 
His  Foundry  schoolmaster,  Silas  Told,  carried  it  nobly  forward 
in  London.  Before  there  was  an  antislavery  society  Wesley 
had  described  the  trade  in  men  as  "that  execrable  sum  of  all 
villainies."  It  was  the  burden  of  his  letter  to  Wilberforce, 
the  last  he  ever  penned.  Personally  Wesley  was  the  most  lib- 
eral of  givers.  In  his  lifetime  he  lived  on  some  ^^o  a  year, 
and  gave  away  the  ^30,000  profits  of  the  book  business.  When 
the  excise  men  supposing  him  to  be  wealthy — as  he  might  have 
been — demanded  that  he  "make  due  entry"  of  his  plate,  that 
duty  might  be  levied  on  it,  he  wrote:  "  Sir,  I  have  two  silver 
teaspoons  here  in  London  and  two  at  Bristol.  This  is  all  which 
I  have  at  present ;  and  I  shall  not  buy  any  more  while  so  many 
rotmd  me  want  bread. " 

Some  of  the  wealthy  men  of  Manchester  told  Wesley  that  he 
did  not  know  the  value  of  money.  He  took  no  notice,  but  bit 
his  lip  and  let  them  talk  on.  When  he  was  preaching  he  rec- 
ollected it,  and  began  to  talk  of  it  immediately.  "  I  have 
heard  to-day,"  said  he,  "  that  I  do  not  know  the  value  of  money. 
What!  don't  I  know  that  twelve  pence  make  a  shilling,  and 
twenty-one  shillings  a  guinea.''  Don't  I  know  that  if  given  to 
God,  it's  worth  heaven — through  Christ  ?  And  don't  I  know 
that  if  hoarded  and  kept,  it's  worth  damnation  to  the  man  who 
hoards  it? " 

Wesley's  doctrine  of  Christian  stewardship  is  summed  up  in 
his  sermon  on  The  Use  of  Money,  with  its  three  points:  "Gain 
all  you  can;  save  all  you  can;  give  all  you  can;  "  and  he  prac- 
ticed what  he  preached. 

"  I  reverence  the  young,"  said  John  Wesley,  "  because  they 
may  be  useful  after  I  am  dead,"  and  at  his  last  Conference, 
when  asked  what  he  would  recommend  for  perpetuating  that 


Traveler,  Preacher,  and  Philanthropist.  255 


Some  of  Wesley's  Preaching  Places. 

A  cottage  chapel,  John  Clarke's.  Preaching  room  at  John  Clarke's. 

The  double-decked  chapel,  Nottingham.  Where  Wesley  preached,  Cradley. 

revival  of  religion  which  he  had  commenced  he  said,  "Take 
care  of  the  rising  generation."     He  had  encouraged  Methodist 


256  John   Wesley  the  Meihodist. 

Sunday  schools  before  Robert  Raikes  made  his  conspicuous  suc- 
cess at  Gloucester.  His  presses  gave  Raikes's  experiment  the 
widest  publicity.  His  Journal  entry  at  Bingley  in  July,  1784, 
remarks:  "I  stepped  into  the  Sunday  school,  which  contains 
two  hundred  and  forty  children,  taught  every  Sunday  by  sev- 
eral masters,  and  superintended  by  the  curate.  So,  many  chil- 
dren in  one  parish  are  restrained  from  open  sin,  and  taught  a 
little  good  manners  at  least,  as  well  as  to  read  the  Bible.  I 
find  these  schools  springing  up  wherever  I  go.  Perhaps  God 
may  have  a  deeper  end  therein  than  men  are  aware  of.  Who 
knows  but  some  of  these  schools  may  become  nurseries  for 
Christians?  " 

"Though  I  am  always  in  haste,"  said  Wesley,  "  I  am  never 
in  a  hurry,  because  I  never  undertake  more  work  than  I  can 
go  through  with  perfect  calmness  of  spirit."  This  perfect  self- 
control,  and  the  ability  to  turn  to  advantage  every  minute  of 
spare  time  enabled  him,  in  addition  to  his  travels  of  five  thou- 
sand miles  a  year  and  his  forty  thousand. sermons,  to  edit  and 
write  four  hundred  books,  and  become  the  pioneer  in  publish- 
ing cheap  and  good  books  for  the  people.  His  style  bears  no 
trace  of  "hurry."  He  has  described  it:  "What  is  it  consti- 
tutes a  good  style  ?  Perspicuity,  purity,  propriety,  strength, 
and  easiness  joined  together.  .  .  .  As  for  me,  I  never  think  of 
my  style  at  all,  but  just  set  down  the  words  tliat  come  first. 
.  .  .  Clearness  in  particular  is  necessary  for  you  and  me.  .  .  , 
When  I  had  been  a  member  of  the  university  for  about  ten  years 
I  wrote  and  talked  much  as  you  do  now;  but  when  I  talked  to 
plain  people  in  the  castle  or  town  I  observed  they  gaped  and 
stared.  This  obliged  me  to  alter  my  style.  .  .  .  And  yet  there 
is  dignity  in  this  simplicity  which  is  not  disagreeable  to  those 
of  highest  rank."- 

That-Journal  which  flows  on  with  such  copiousness,  variety, 
and  interest  to  the  end  of  his  life  is,  says  Birrell,   "the   most 


Traveler,  Preacher,  and  Philanthropist. 


257 


amazing   record    of   human    exertion   ever    penned    by   man." 

Social  historians  have  learned  to  go  to  it  for  observation  and 

comment  of  the  rarest  value. 

As  a  pioneer  of  popular  literature  Wesley  holds  a  high  place 

in  national  history.      The      fr~:—'- — : . ■ — -— 1 

■^  THE 


Arailiiian  Magazine, 

N   U  M  B  E   R       I. 

For  JANUARY    1778. 


This   NUMBER  Contains. 


—  29 


T!ic  InlrodiiSion,  defciibing  ihc  general  DeHgn  of  tlie 

The  Life  ofAmiimus        '  — 

An  Accouiif  of  tlic  Synod  of  Dort  —  '  — 

LETTERS. 
Letter  I.    From  ilie  Rev.  Mr.  Samuel  Wcflcy,  Rcaor  of 

Epwonb,  Lincolnihirc.     On  the  proper  RequifiLCs  for 

cntciing  into  Holy  Orders  — 

Leiicr  II.    From  die  fame.     On  the  Folly  of  Yoiilhful 

Eryovnncnls  — 

Letter  111.  From  the  fame.     On  the  Atlianafian  Creed 
Lcilcr  IV.    Fiom  Mis.  Siifjnndli  Wedey  :    giving  jn  Ac. 

comu  of  a  remarkable  Deliverance  fiom  Kirc 
Letter  V.Fjom  the  fame:    fiiowing,  That  the  Happincfs 

or  Mifciy  of  All  Men  depends  on  themfehcs,  and  not 

on  any  AbfoUitc  Dorrcc  —  •      

Letter  VI.    From  the  f.nnc.     The  DoHrincs  of   Elcaioii 

and  Pre.lellm.uion  cle.uly  (Ijied         —  — 

LcttciVIl.    From   tlicfjmer    fhewing,  how  far  Taking 

Thought  ior  the  Morrow,  is  allowable  

POETRY. 
Eiipolis's  Hymn  to  the  Creator.     The  Occafion  ;    hcinj 

Part  of  a  Dialogue  between  Plato  and  Eu])oIis         • — 
The  Hvnni  _  _  _ 

II)!nn.     Salvation  depends  not  on  Abfuluie  Deerecs 
Hvmn  on  Un.vcifal  Reaemplioa         —  — 


Page 


traveling  peddlers,  or 
"  chapmen,"  were  the 
only  purveyors  of  cheap 
books  before  Wesley  did 
his  work,  and  their  ' '  cheap 
books,"  sold  for  a  few 
pence,  were  of  little  or  no 
value  from  an  educational 
standpoint,  as  our  fac- 
similes of  some  of  the 
most  harmless  show. 
Wesley  stored  his  preach- 
ers' saddlebags  with 
penny  books  of  a  whole- 
some sort.  ' '  Two  and 
forty  years  ago,"  he 
writes,  "having  a  desire 
to  furnish  poor  people 
with  cheaper,  shorter,  and 
plainer  books  than  any  I 
have  seen,  I  wrote  many 
small  tracts,  generally  a 
penny  apiece,  and  after- 
ward several  larger.  Some  of  these  have  such  a  sale  as  I  never 
thought  of;  and  by  this  means  I  became  unawares  rich."  What 
he  did  with  the  wealth  we  shall  learn  later.  He  created  an 
appetite  for  reading  among  the  people.  His  cheap  books  had 
an  enormous  circulation,  and  Watson  justly  observes  that  "he 
17 


—        5b. 


LONDON: 
primed  by  J.  TRY  lod  Co.  and  SolJ  ji  il.c  rou>,Jjty, 

■      : [,r»mSi..i-rti,ci.2 


xUfrcr-MotineU 


Cover  and  Contents  of  the  First  Number  of 
the  Arminian  Magazine. 

(Reduced  facsimile.) 


258 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


was  probably  the  first  to  use  on  any  extensive  scale  this  means 
of  popular  reformation." 

Wesley  and  Coke  formed  the  first  tract  society  in  1782, 
seventeen  years  before  the  formation  of  the  Religious  Tract 
, \ _     ,       Society   of    London,    and 


T  Q    T  H  E 


forty  years  before  this 
thousands  of  copies  of 
Wesley's  Word  to  a 
Smuggler,  Word  to  a 
Sabbath-breaker,  Word  to 
a  Swearer,  and  other  tracts 
were  circulated  broadcast. 
He  did  much  by  his  cheap 
abridgments  to  bring 
stores  of  useful  literature 
within  the  reach  of  those 
who  were  short  of  money 
to  buy  and  time  to  read 
the  ponderous  folios  and 
quartos  in  which  much  of 
the  best  writing  was  en- 
tombed. His  Christian 
Library,  in  thirty  volumes 
( 1 749-1 7 55). ^^'as  his  great- 
est effort  in  this  direction, 
but  by  this  he  suffered  a 
loss  of  ^100.  Milton's 
Paradise  Lost,  Young's 
Night  Thoughts,  and  even  the  Pilgrim's  Progress  were  merci- 
lessly condensed,  and  though  to-day  this  may  be  regarded  as 
vandalism,  the  needs  of  the  poverty-stricken  multitudes  whose 
intellects  were  awakened  by  the  revival  condone  the  deed. 
The  list  of  Wesley's  original  works,  from  the  first  of  1733 — 


READER, 


IT'  IS'  urual,  I  am  informed,  for  the  com- 
-pilcrs  of  Magazines,  lo  employ  the  ouifide  | 
Covers,  in.  acquainting  tlic  courteous  reader,^! 
■with  the  Boaitties  and  ixcetlcncies  of  ^^■hat  he 
■will  find  within.  I  bog  liim  to  cxcufe  me  from 
this  troul)lc  :  from  writing  a  pnncg^ric  upon 
niyfclf  Neither  can  I  delire  my  Friends  to  do 
it  ior  me,  in  their  recommendatory  Letters.  I 
am  content  this  Magazine  (hould  ftand  or  fall, 
by  its  own  intrinfic  value.  If  it  is  a  connpound 
of  FaHhood,  Ribaldry,  and  Nonfenlc,  let  it 
fink  into- oblivion.  If  it  contains  only  the 
words  of  trutii  ancl  foberncfs,  then  let  it  meet 
■\viih  a  favourable  reception. 

It  is  lifual  likewife  with  Magazin.e  Wn'tcrs, 
to  fpeak  of  themfclvcs  in  the  plural  number  ; 
■"  Wf.  will  do  thus."  And  indeed  it  is  the  gc- 
jieral  Cullom  of  Great  Men  lb  to  do.  Uut  1 
am  a  little  one.  Lei  me  then  be  excufed  in 
this  alfo,  an  J  permitted  to  fpeak  as  lain-aC- 
cullomed  to  do. 


John  Wefley, 


LEWI. SHAM, 
Nov,  2^(  1777. 


:  tomaitu  fewer*  Artida  tlitn  any 
nthcr. .  1  his  r»  noi  by  accMlciii,  fcut  (fjfijn.  I  hivt  Irtqufnily  btfii  dilguftr  j 
by  lh<  many  bit*  :.n>j  friapi  nl  various  kjnds.  which  nial^e  "pa  grcrftpirt  of 
inoil  publu-iiioni  udhii  njiuic.  *  Bcloic  cnc  hji  well.  eu;citd  u>>on  any  fjh. 
y&,  A  w.'S.Jt  m  end,  oiij  rrrcrrrd  lo  the  next  Niuiiber  :  3  mere  nkl,  ij  <]c. 
coy  Ike  rtjdrr,  Lo  buy  iiiythef  and  anothef  NumNcf.vOn  the  coutrar,*  1  ftiall 
endeaveui  lo  ticjin  in.l  toiKludc  ai  nijny  lh.n«  at  polTitle  in  eafh  nunibir  ; 
»i<d  wiih  r.gitd  lo  uiinjtlK  .Nun)bcr>  ihal  SjKjw,  la  e»ery  Keiilcl  uft  lu( 
owq  J^^rcittioo. 


Wesley's  Editorial  Salutatory. 
In  the  first  number  of  the  Arminian  Magazine. 


Traveler,  Preacher,  and  Philanthropist.  259 

a  Collection  of  Forms  of  Prayer,  for  the  use  of  his  pupils— to 
the  last  revision  of  his  Notes  on  the  New  Testament,  fifty-seven 
years  later,  v^ould  fill  a  volume. 

Wesley's  Notes  on  the  New  Testament  (constituting  with 
his  first  fifty-three  sermons  the  doctrinal  standards  of  Meth- 
odism) appeared  in  1755.  The  notes  he  made  "as  short  as 
possible,  that  the  comment  may  not  obscure  or  swallow  up  the 
text,  and  as  plain  as  possible,  in  pursuance  of  the  main  design. " 
His  brother  Charles,  who  was  an  excellent  critic,  assisted  him. 
He  took  great  pains  to  secure  a  correct  Greek  text,  using 
chiefly  the  Gnomon  Novi  Testamenti  of  Bengel— "that  great 
light  of  the  Christian  world."  He  anticipated  the  revision  of 
1 88 1  in  his  use  of  paragraphs,  the  omission  of  chapter  headings, 
and  in  a  large  number  of  renderings. 

His  first  fifty-three  sermons,  referred  to  as  part  of  the  doc- 
trinal standards  of  Methodism,  were  pubHshedin  1746  and  1760. 
Henry  Moore  states  that  Wesley  felt  the  need  of  preparing 
some  concise,  clear,  and  full  body  of  divinity  to  guide  his 
preachers  and  people.  Retiring  to  the  house  of  his  friends, 
the  Blackwells,  at  Lewisham,  and  taking  only  his  Hebrew 
Bible  and  Greek  Testament  with  him,  "My  design,"  he  says 
in  his  preface,  "  is  in  some  sense  to  forget  all  that  I  have  ever 
read  in  my  life."  One  portion  of  this  preface  is  so  character- 
istic of  the  man  and  his  methods  that  no  review  of  his  work 
would  be  complete  without  it.  He  writes:  "To  candid, 
reasonable  men  I  am  not  afraid  to  lay  open  what  have  been 
the  inmost  thoughts  of  my  heart.  I  have  thought,  I  am  a 
creature  of  the  day,  passing  through  life  as  an  arrow  through 
the  air.  I  am  a  spirit  come  from  God,  and  returning  to  God; 
just  hovering  over  the  great  gulf,  till,  a  few  moments  hence,  I 
am  no  more  seen;  I  drop  into  an  unchangeable  eternity!  I 
want  to  know  one  thing:  the  way  to  heaven;  how  to  land  safe 
on  that  happy  shore.      God  himself  has  condescended  to  teach 


26o  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

the  way;  for  this  very  end  he  came  down  from  heaven.  He 
hath  written  it  down  in  a  book.  O  give  me  that  book !  at  any 
price,  give  me  the  book  of  God !  1  have  it ;  here  is  knowledge 
enough  for  me.  Let  me  be  Jiomo  tiniiis  libri.  Here,  then,  I 
am  far  from  the  busy  ways  of  men.  I  sit  down  alone ;  only 
God  is  here.  In  his  presence  I  open,  I  read  his  book,  for  this 
end — to  find  the  way  to  heaven.      Is  there  a  doubt  concerning 


-vo(J/  Vryxi-r-l.-t  Ul^  JZ^    AC. 

w-^  i/^.  CA-n  -.^  (<^^.  ^n.A-^  (1a^ 


i  \r  ^  s'  nMJf/^ 


John  Wesley's  Shorthand  Writing. 
Slightly  reduced  facsimile. 

the  meaning  of  what  I  read  ?  Does  anything  appear  dark  or 
intricate  ?  I  lift  up  my  heart  to  the  Father  of  lights.  '  Lord, 
is  it  not  thy  word,  If  any  man  lack  wisdom,  let  him  ask  it  of 
God  ?  Thou  givest  liberally  and  upbraidest  not.  Thou  hast 
said  if  any  man  be  willing  to  do  thy  will,  he  shall  know.  I  am 
willing  to  do;  let  me  know  thy  will.'  I  then  search  after  and 
consider  parallel  passages  of  Scripture,  comparing  spiritual 
things  with  spiritual.     I  meditate  thereon  with  all  the  atten- 


Traveler,  Preacher,  and  Philanthropist.  261 

tion  and  earnestness  of  which  my  mind  is  capable.  If  any 
doubt  still  remains,  I  consult  those  who  are  experienced  in  the 
things  of  God,  and  then  the  writings  whereby,  being  dead,  they 
yet  speak.     And  what  I  thus  learn  that  I  teach." 

These  written  and  printed  sermons,  as  we  have  noted,  do  not 
represent  his  preaching,  and  must  be  regarded  rather  as  care- 
ful statements  of  his  doctrines  intended  for  thoughtful  reading. 
His  later  sermons  were  prepared  for  his  magazine,  and  are 
more  varied  in  style  and  literary  illustration. 

His  Earnest  Appeals  to  Men  of  Reason  and  Religion  (1743 
and  1745)  contain  some  of  his  most  trenchant  and  powerful 
work.  They  were  not  only  a  vindication  of  Methodism,  but 
of  the  Christian  religion,  and  answered  their  purpose  to  a 
remarkable  degree.  They  were  fruitful,  as  we  have  seen,  in 
the  conversion  of  deists  like  Lampe,  and  Wesley  tells  of  sev- 
eral like  "Dr.  W ,  a  steady,  rational  infidel,"  whom  "it 

pleased  God  to  touch  "  as  they  read.  They  did  more  to  melt 
the  hearts  of  the  more  reasonable  of  Wesley's  clerical  oppo- 
nents than  anything  else  he  wrote. 

Wesley  wrote  or  compiled  or  edited  schoolbooks,  histories, 
condensations  of  great  literary  works,  in  great  number  and 
variety.  His  Collected  Works,  in  thirty- two  volumes,  were 
published  1771-1774.  All  this  work  was  done  from  what  Dr. 
Osborne  describes  as  his  "intense  determination  to  popularize 
literature,  and  by  means  of  cheap  extracts  and  abridgments  to 
bring  good  books  within  reach  of  his  societies,  most  of  whom 
had  neither  time  to  read  nor  money  to  buy  much  more  than  he 
supplied  to  them." 

In  1778  he  put  forth  the  first  number  of  the  Arminian  Maga- 
zine, which  is  still  issued  under  another  title.  It  was  aimed  to 
counteract  the  effect  of  the  Calvinist  magazines. 

Wesley  declared  in  a  letter  to  Thomas  Taylor  that  his  object 
was,  "not  to  get  money,"  but  "to  counteract  the  poison  of 


262 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


A 

COLLECTION 

O  F 

N     E     S. 

U  U  S  1  c. 


T 


U 

Set    to 


As  they  arc    comn^onlv  S  t;  n  g  a.t  tlitr 
F  C)  U  N  D  E  R  Y 


other  periodicals."     But  it  also  supplied,  by  means  of  lives  and 

letters,  "  the  marrow  of  experimental  and  practical  religion." 
For  forty  years  Wesley  had  a  store,  "The  Book-Room,"  at 

the  Foundr}^  In  1777 

the  business  was  re- 
moved to  the  new 
chapel  in  City  Road. 
Thus  began  the  great 
Book  Concerns  of 
world-wide  Method- 
ism, which  have  done 
so  much  for  the  cir- 
culation of  its  litera- 
ture and  the  assist- 
ance of  its  funds. 

Music  had  a  power- 
ful charm  for  all  the 
Wesleys,  and  John 
was  no  exception. 
Scarcely  less  than 
his  brother,  whose 
poetical  gift  sur- 
passed his,  was  his 
fondness  for  good 
singing.  He  heard 
the  Messiah  sung  in 
Bristol  Cathedral  in 
1758,  and  frequently 
met  the  composer 
Handel  in    London. 

His  tune  books  caught  the  popular  ear,  and  the  good  singing  of 

the  Methodists  became  proverbial. 

John  Wesley's  knowledge  of  the  German  language,  acquired 


Z  0  N  D  0  N: 

Printed  by  A.  Pe  a  r  so>',  and  fold  by 
T.  Harris,  ai  tlie  Uchvr.CUfi  anJ  nihh, 
on  [.(.>iJ',n- Bridge;  T.  Trye,  i.t  Cray  s- Inn- 
Gat,,  H:lhorn\  and  at  tlic  Fouiiderjy  near  L/fJvr 
MoorfiiUs.     MDCCXLII. 

Title-page  of  Wesley's  First  Tune  Book. 


Traveler,  Preacher,  and  Philanthropist. 


J  63 


on  his  first  Atlantic  voyage,  opened  up  to  him  the  splendid 
treasury  of  German  hymnody;  for,  as  Dr.  Philip  Schaff  has 
well  said  in  Julian's  Dictionary  of  Hymnology,  the  "church 
hymn,  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  term,  as  a  popular  religious 
lyric  in  praise  of  God,  to  be  sung  by  the  congregation  in 
public  worship,  was  born  with  the  German  Reformation." 
Ten  thousand  German  hymns  have  become  more  or  less 
popular,  and  have  enriched  the  hymn  books  of  Churches  of 
other   tongues,    and    nearly    a    thousand    are    "classical    and 


^ik^g^T^^^fe^^g^^^^^^^^fefej^^^^^ 


Wesley's  Favorite  Tune,  by  Lampe. 

immortal."  "John  Wesley,"  says  Dr.  vSchaff,  "was  one  of 
the  first  English  divines  who  appreciated  their  value."  He 
translated  at  least  thirty  hymns,  five  of  which  appeared  in  his 
first  hymn  book.  He  translated  Psalm  Ixiii  from  the  Spanish 
version,  and  at  least  revised  Mme.  Bourignon's  French  hymn, 
"Come,  Saviour,  Jesus,  from  above." 

John  Wesley's  modesty  has  made  it  difhcult  to  distinguish 
his  original  hymns  from  those  of  his  brother.  His  paraphrase 
of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  to  which  his  name  is  attached,  is  one  of 
the  finest  in  the  English  language.  His  severer  taste  pruned 
his  brother's  hymns  of  luxuriances,  and  on  comparing  those 


264 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist, 


which  John  edited  with  the  originals  it  will  be  found  that  they 
gained  much  by  his  unsparing  censorship.  John  Wesley 
strongly  objected  to  any  "mending"  of  his  own  hymns,  but 
he  mended  the  hymns  of  others  with  a  clear  conscience,  and 
with  what  success  one  example  of  his  handling  of  the  famous 
hymn  writer,  Watts,  will  suffice  to  show: 


AS    WRITTEN    BY    WATTS. 

The  God  that  rules  on  high, 
And  thunders  when  he  please, 

That  rides  upon  the  stormy  sky, 
And  manages  the  seas. 


AS    REVISED    BY    WESLEY. 

The  God  that  rules  on  high, 
And  all  the  earth  surveys, 

That  rides  upon  the  stormy  sky, 
And  calms  the  roaring  seas. 


After  their  spiritual  Pentecost  of  1738  the  two  brothers 
cooperated,  both  as  authors  and  editors,  and  issued  fifty-four 
musical  publications,  making  on  an  average  one  every  year 
until  the  death  of  John.  The  year  after  City  Road  Chapel 
was  opened  the  Large  Book  was  advertised  in  the  Arminian 
Magazine,  and  it  was  published  in  1780.  It  was  entitled  A 
Collection  of  Hymns  for  the  Use  of  the  People  called  Metho- 
dists, and  contained  five  hundred  and  twenty-five  hymns 
selected  from  twenty-one  previous  publications. 

John  Wesley  calls  the  hymns  "a  body  of  experimental  and 
practical  divinity. "  They  were  not  only  intended  for  congre- 
gational use,  they  were  a  compendium  of  theology  and  a 
manual  of  private  devotion;  and  when  the  voices  of  the 
preachers  were  stilled  the  hymns  remained  for  the  deepening 
of  the  spiritual  life  of  the  people,  the  elevation  of  their  wor- 
ship, and  the  development  of  their  character.  "  It  is  a  great 
recommendation  to  the  hymns  of  both  Wesleys,"  says  an 
Anglican  historian,  "  that,  although  they  are  often  mystical  in 
tone,  and  appeal  persistently  to  the  feelings,  they  are  thoroughly 
practical,  never  losing  sight  of  active  Christian  morality." 

But,  after  all,  the  Poet  of  the  Revival  was  Charles  Wesley, 
whose  hymns  are  now  sung  in  every  branch  of  Christianity. 


Traveler,  Preacher,  and  Philanthropist.  265 

Charles,  though  younger  than  John,  died  before  him.  He  had 
been  residing  in  London  for  nearly  a  score  of  years,  preaching 
frequently  in  City  Road,  and  living  in  happiness  with  his  good 
wife  and  his  musically  remarkable   children.     The  friendship 


Rev.  Charles  Wesley,  A.M. 
The  portrait  published  in  the  Arminian  Magazine,  May,  1792. 

of  the  brothers  was  not  broken  by  their  differences  of  opinion 

on  ecclesiastical  policy. 

A  few  days  before  his  death  Charles  Wesley  called  to  his  wife 

and  requested  her  to  write  down  the  following  lines: 

In  age  and  feebleness  extreme, 
Who  shall  a  sinful  worm  redeem  ? 
Jesus,  my  only  hope  thou  art, 
Strength  of  my  failing  flesh  and  heart: 
O  could  I  catch  a  smile  from  thee, 
And  drop  into  eternity! 

This  was  the  last  verse  he  wrote. 


266  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

Samuel  Bradburn,  then  stationed  in  London,  who  sat  up 
with  him  the  last  night  of  his  life  but  one,  says,  "  His  mind 
was  as  calm  as  a  summer  evening. "  He  told  his  wife  that  no 
fiend  was  permitted  to  approach  him,  and  that  he  had  a  good 
hope.  When  asked  if  he  wanted  anything,  he  replied,  "  Noth- 
ing but  Christ."  Some  one  said  that  the  valley  of  the  shadow 
of  death  was  hard  to  be  crossed.  He  exclaimed,  ' '  Not  with 
Christ."  All  his  family  was  present.  He  pressed  his  wife's 
hand,  when  too  feeble  to  speak,  to  assure  her  that  he  knew  her. 
After  his  last  words,  "  Lord — my  heart — my  God!  "  he  quietly 
fell  asleep,  on  Saturday,  March  29,  1788. 

A  fortnight  later,  when  at  Bolton,  John  Wesley  attempted 
to  give  out  as  his  second  hymn,  "Come,  O  thou  Traveler 
unknown,"  but  when  he  came  to  the  lines. 

My  company  before  is  gone, 
And  I  am  left  alone  with  Thee, 

he  sank  beneath  the  sorrow  of  his  bereavement,  burst  into  a 
flood  of  tears,  sat  down  in  the  pulpit,  and  hid  his  face  with  his 
hands.  The  crowded  congregation  well  knew  the  cause  of  his 
speechless  sorrow;  singing  ceased,  and  "the  chapel  became  a 
Bochim. "  At  length  the  aged  preacher  recovered,  and  went 
through  a  service  which  was  never  forgotten  by  those  who  were 
present.  His  love  for  his  brother  is  expressed  in  his  own 
words:   "  I  have  a  brother  who  is  as  my  own  soul.." 


Setting  His  House  in  Order.  267 


CHAPTER  XVni. 

Settingf  His  House  in  Order* 

"Thou  Art  the  Man  !" — Methodist  Clergy. — The  Swiss  Recruit.— Fletcher's 

Proposals. — The  Deed  of  Declaration. — The  Ordinations. — 

The  Rubicon  Crossed. 

^VOHN  WESLEY  completed  his  seventieth  year  in  1773. 

1  His  health  was  apparently  failing",  and  the  great  itiner- 
ant began  to  feel  the  necessity  to  set  his  house  in  order 
as  one  who  goes  on  a  long  journey.  He  had  been  revising  his 
manuscripts  for  his  literary  executor,  but  was  concerned  for 
the  future  conduct  of  the  complex  system  of  work  which  had 
resulted  from  his  labors. 

"What  an  amazing  work  has  God  wrought  in  these  king- 
doms in  less  than  forty  years!  "  he  writes.  "  And  it  not  only 
continues,  but  increases,  throughout  England,  Scotland,  and 
Ireland;  nay,  it  has  lately  spread  into  New  York,  Pennsyl- 
vania, Virginia,  Maryland,  and  Carolina.  But  the  wise  men  of 
the  world  say,  '  When  Mr.  Wesley  drops,  then  all  this  is  at  an 
end. ' "  And  Wesley  himself  fears  this,  ' '  unless,  before  God  calls 
me  hence,  one  is  found  to  stand  in  my  place.  ...  I  see  more 
and  more,  unless  there  be  one  npoearcdg,  the  work  can  never  be 
carried  on."  At  present  he  fears  the  preachers  will  not  submit 
to  one  another.  A  leader  they  must  have.  "  But  who  is  suffi- 
cient for  these  things  ?  " 

Then,  after  describing  the  type  of  leader  needed,  Wesley 
declares  to  John  Fletcher:   "  Thou  art  the  man !  " 

Fletcher  stands  easily  foremost  among  the  clergy  of  the 
Church  of  England  who  became  identified  with  the  Methodist 


268  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

movement.  Some  of  these  gave  up  parochial  work  in  the 
Church  of  England  and  became  itinerant  preachers  like  White- 
field.  Others  continued  in  their  church  livings  and  were 
at  the  same  time  Methodist  assistants  (superintendents)  and 
had  a  Methodist  circuit  extending  far  beyond  their  own  par- 
ishes, like  Grimshaw,  of  Haworth. 

A  third  class  attended  the  Conferences,  welcomed  the  Meth- 
odist leaders  to  their  homes  and  pulpits,  and  assisted  them  in  the 
administration  of  the  sacraments,  without  leaving  or  extending 
their  parochial  work,  like  Vincent  Perronet,  of  Shoreham,  to 
whom  Wesley  addressed  his  Plain  Account  of  the  People  Called 
Methodists,  and  Henry  Venn,  of  Clapham,  to  whom  Wesley 
wrote  in  1765  the  spirited  letter  in  which  the  motto  of  the 
Epworth  League  is  found:  *'  I  desire  to  have  a  league  offensive 
and  defensive  with  every  soldier  of  Christ.  We  have  not  only 
one  faith,  one  hope,  one  Lord,  but  are  directly  engaged  in  one 
warfare.  We  are  carrying  the  war  into  the  devil's  own  quar- 
ters, who  therefore  summons  all  his  hosts  to  war.  Come,  then, 
ye  that  love  him,  to  the  help  of  the  Lord — to  the  help  of  the 
Lord  against  the  mighty!  I  am  now  well-nigh  miles  emeritus 
sen  ex,  sexagenarius  [an  old  soldier  who  has  served  out  his  time 
and  is  entitled  to  his  discharge — a  sexagenarian] ;  yet  I  trust  to 
fight  a  little  longer. " 

But  of  all  the  evangelical  clergy  who,  with  or  without  their 
consent,  were  classed  as  Methodists  the  vicar  of  Madeley  stands 
preeminent  for  saintliness,  learning,  and  as  a  defender  of  the 
faith. 

Jean  Guillaume  de  la  Flechere,  for  so  he  was  christened,  was 
a  Swiss,  born  at  Nyon  of  excellent  family  in  1729.  Though 
educated  for  the  Reformed  ministry,  he  rejected  its  Calvinistic 
creed  and  turned  to  a  life  of  adventure.  A  train  of  remark- 
able providences  landed  him  in  England,  where  he  was  coach- 
ing the  sons  of  a  member  of  Parliament  when  in  1754  he  fell 


John  Wesley  at  the  Age  of  Sixty-three. 


Setting  His  House  in  Order.  271 

in  with  the  Methodists  and  joined  class  at  the  Foundry.  Wes- 
ley's Journal  helped  him  to  understand  his  spiritual  needs  and 
the  way  of  salvation,  and  on  January  23,  1755,  he  recognized 
himself  "a  new  creature"  in  Christ  Jesus.  He  entered  the 
ministry  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  performed  his  first  min- 
isterial service  in  assisting  Wesley  with  the  sacraments  in 
Snowsfield  Chapel. 

"How  wonderful,"  wrote  Wesley,  "are  the  ways  of  God! 
When  my  bodily  strength  failed,  and  none  in  England  were 
able  and  willing  to  assist  me,  he  sent  me  help  from  the  moun- 
tains of  Switzerland,  and  an  helpmate  for  me  in  every  respect; 
where  could  I  have  found  such  another  ?  " 

Fletcher's  charming  personality  and  rare  spiritual  gifts  gained 
him  immediate  adoption  into  the  little  group  of  the  clergy  who 
favored  the  revival  work.  In  1760  he  was  appointed  to  the 
living  of  Madeley,  and  in  that  rural  parish  of  miners  and  col- 
liers he  preached  and  lived  the  Gospel  for  twenty-five  years. 
His  converts  were  formed  into  classes  on  the  Wesleyan  plan, 
and  his  parish  was  administered  according  to  Wesley's  ideal. 

Such  was  Fletcher  of  Madeley  when,  in  1763,  John  Wesley, 
looking  about  for  a  successor,  said:  "Thou  art  the  man!  God 
has  given  you  a  measure  of  loving  faith  and  a  single  eye  to  his 
glory.  He  has  given  you  some  knowledge  of  men  and  things, 
particularly  of  the  old  plan  of  Methodism.  You  are  blessed 
with  some  health,  activity,  and  diligence,  together  with  a 
degree  of  learning.  And  to  all  these  he  has  lately  added,  by  a 
way  none  could  have  foreseen,  favor  both  with  the  preachers 
and  the  people.  Come  out,  in  the  name  of  God!  Come  to  the 
help  of  the  Lord  against  the  mighty !  Come  while  I  am  alive 
and  capable  of  labor  !  .  .  .  Come  while  I  am  able,  God  assist- 
ing to  build  you  up  in  faith,  to  ripen  your  gifts,  and  introduce 
you  to  the  people !  Nil  tanti.  What  possible  employment  can 
you  have  which  is  of  so  great  importance  ?  " 


272 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


Fletcher  did  not  definitely  decline  Wesley's  proposal,  but  he 
stated  that  he  "needed  a  fuller  persuasion  that  the  time  is 
quite  come  "  to  leave  his  work   at   Madeley.      He  hopes  that 


Siiulclialli    Cliuixli. 

The  parish  church  of  Wesley's  friend,  Vincent  Perronet. 


Wesley  may  outlive  him,  but  he  promises,  "  Should  Providence 
call  you  first,  I  shall  do  my  best  ...  to  help  your  brother  to 
gather  the  wreck,  and  keep  together  those  who  are  not  abso- 


Setting  His  House  in  Order.  273 

lutely  bent  on  throwing  away  the  Methodist  doctrines  and  dis- 
cipline." Six  months  later  the  call  was  repeated  without 
success.  Thirteen  years  afterward  Wesley  still  doubted  if  his 
friend  had  done  right  in  remaining  in  his  parish.  ' '  I  can  never 
believe,"  says  he,  "it  was  the  will  of  God  that  such  a  burning 
and  shining  light  should  be  hid  under  a  bushel.  No;  instead 
of  being  confined  to  a  country  village  it  ought  to  have  shone  in 
every  corner  of  our  land." 

Although  Fletcher  did  not  accept  "Wesley's  commission  of 
lieutenancy,  and  was  survived  by  him,  he  is  known  as  his 
"designated  successor."  That  he  gave  deep  thought  to  the 
problem  of  Methodism  after  Wesley  we  know  from  a  compre- 
hensive statement  of  his  conclusions  in  a  letter  written  to  Mr. 
Wesley  in  August,  1775,  in  which  he  exhorts  his  correspondent 
as  an  Englishman,  a  Christian,  a  divine,  and  an  extraordinary 
messenger  of  God,  to  take  positive  steps  toward  the  reforma- 
tion of  the  Church  of  England,  "  which  I  love, "  says  Fletcher, 
' '  as  much  as  you  do,  but  I  do  not  love  her  so  much  as  to  take 
her  blemishes  for  ornaments."  Some  of  the  leading  points  in 
the  program  of  reform  are  thus  stated : 

"  (i)  That  the  growing  body  of  the  Methodists  in  Great  Britain,  Ireland, 
and  America  be  formed  into  a  general  society— a  daughter  Church  of  our 
holy  mother.  (2)  That  this  society  shall  recede  from  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land in  nothing  but  in  some  palpable  defects,  about  doctrine,  discipline, 
and  unevangelical  hierarchy.  (3)  That  this  society  shall  be  the  Methodist 
Church  of  England,  ready  to  defend  the  as  yet  unmethodized  Church 
against  all  the  unjust  attacks  of  the  Dissenters— willing  to  submit  to  her 
in  all  things  that  are  not  unscriptural— approving  of  her  ordination,  par- 
taking of  her  sacraments,  and  attending  her  service  at  every  convenient 
opportunity.  (4)  That  a  pamphlet  be  published  containing  the  Thirty-nine 
Articles  of  the  Church  of  England,  rectified  according  to  the  purity  of  the 
Gospel,  together  with  some  needful  alterations  in  the  liturgy  and  homilies, 
such  as  the  expunging  of  the  damnatory  clauses  of  the  Athanasian  Creed, 
etc.  (5)  That  Messrs.  Wesley,  the  preachers,  and  the  most  substantial 
Methodists  in  London,  in  the  name  of  the  societies  scattered  through  the 
kingdom,  would  draw  up  a  petition  and  present  it  to  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  informing  his  grace,  and  by  him  the  bench  of  the  bishops,  of 
18 


274  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

this  design ;  proposing  the  reformed  Articles  of  Religion,  asking  the  protec- 
tion of  the  Church  of  England,  begging  that  this  step  might  not  be  consid- 
ered as  a  schism,  but  only  as  an  attempt  to  avail  ourselves  of  the  liberty  of 
Englishmen  and  Protestants  to  serve  God  according  to  the  purity  of  the 
Gospel,  the  strictness  of  primitive  discipline,  and  the  original  design  of  the 
Church  of  England,  which  was  to  reform,  so  far  as  time  and  circumstances 
would  allow,  whatever  needed  reformation.  (6)  That  this  petition  contain 
a  request  to  the  bishops  to  ordain  the  Methodist  preachers  which  can  pass 
their  examination  according  to  what  is  indispensably  required  in  the  can- 
ons of  the  Church.  That  instead  of  the  ordinary  testimonials  the  bishops 
would  allow  of  testimonials  signed  by  Messrs.  Wesley  and  some  more 
clergymen,  who  would  make  it  their  business  to  inquire  into  the  morals 
and  principles  of  the  candidates  for  orders.  And  that,  instead  of  a  title, 
their  lordships  would  accept  of  a  bond  signed  by  twelve  stewards  of  the 
Methodist  societies,  certifjnng  that  the  candidate  for  holy  orders  shall  have 
a  proper  maintenance.  That  if  his  grace,  etc. ,  does  not  condescend  to  grant 
this  request,  Messrs.  Wesley  will  be  obliged  to  take  an  irregular  (not  une- 
vangelical)  step,  and  to  ordain  upon  a  Church  of  England  independent  plan 
such  lay  preachers  as  appear  to  them  qualified  for  holy  orders." 


Then  follow  suggestions  as  to  the  trial  of  candidates  and  the 
exercise  of  discipline,  and  under  (9),  "  that  when  Messrs.  Wes- 
ley are  dead  the  power  of  ordination  be  lodged  in  three  or  five 
of  the  most  steady  Methodist  ministers,  under  the  title  of  mod- 
erators, who  shall  overlook  the  flocks  and  the  other  preachers 
as  Mr.  Wesley  does  now. "  Under  (10-12)  the  Prayer  Book  is 
to  be  revised,  confirmation  is  to  be  performed  with  the  utmost 
solemnity  by  Mr.  Wesley  or  the  moderators,  and  (13)  enjoins 
that  the  doctrine  of  grace  shall  be  preached  against  the  Socini- 
ans,  the  doctrine  of  justice  against  the  Calvinists,  and  the  doc- 
trine of  holiness  against  all  the  world.  The  letter  closes  with 
a  proposal  that  Kingswood  School  shall  be  used  for  the  training 
of  candidates  for  ''Methodist  orders,"  the  education  of  the 
preachers'  children,  and  as  a  home  for  worn-out  ministers. 

It  will  be  seen  that  Fletcher  thought  that  Wesley  might 
secure  the  much-needed  reform  "without  perverting;"  that 
Methodism  might  exist  in  ecclesiastical  form  as  a  Church  with- 
in a  Church,  or  as  a  Church  branch  of  the  Mother  Church,  but 


Setting  His  House  in  Order. 


275 


with  a  power  of  expansion  to  Ireland,  the  colonies,  and  the 
work  beyond ;  the  Articles  and  Prayer  Book  might  be  purged 
from  unevangelical  elements,  to  meet  the  scruples  of  many 
Methodists,  and  the  damnatory  clauses  of  the  Athanasian  Creed 
might  be  omitted.  The  Methodist  superintendent  preachers 
might  be  episcopally  ordained  presbyters,  and  their  helpers 
deacons.  If  the  bishops  would  not  ordain,  let  the  Wesleys 
do  so. 

Wesley  did  not  see  his  way  to  do  more  than  very  partially  to 
act  upon  Fletcher's  very  striking  and  comprehensive  proposals. 
He  did  partially  act  upon  them  in  some  important  respects. 
He  drew  up  a  revised 
Prayer  Book  or  Sun- 
day Service  for  the 
independent  Meth- 
odist Church,  after- 
ward the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  of 
America.  In  this 
book  the  Thirty-nine 
Articles  are  reduced 
to  twenty-four,  the  Athanasian  Creed  disappears,  the  Psalms 
are  abridged.  All  is  adapted  to  a  new  people  in  a  homely, 
pastoral  country.  Provision  is  made  for  independent  Meth- 
odist ordination  of  deacons,  presbyters,  or  elders,  and  the  set- 
ting apart  of  superintendents,  or  "bishops,"  to  use  the  word 
which  early  became  current  in  America  and  which  has  almost 
displaced  the  other  designation. 

The  suggestion  (9)  in  regard  to  moderators  was  an  extension 
of  that  which  Wesley  had  himself  proposed  in  1 7  69.  It  resembles 
more  closely  the  American  plan  of  general  superintendence. 

Both  Fletcher  (1759)  and  Perronet  (1762)  had  previously 
described  the  Methodist  society  as  the    "Methodist  Church." 


The  Birthplace  of  John  Fletcher,  Nyon,  Switzerland. 


276  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

And  Wesley  himself  was  now  using-  the  term,  so  that  this  was 
not  a  new  departure.  But  "what  was  new  was  the  frank 
boldness  with  which  Fletcher  would  one  hundred  and  twenty 
years  ago  have  spread  before  the  world  and  all  the  churches  of  the 
world  the  fact  that  by  the  labors  of  the  Wesleys  and  their  fol- 
lowers a  new  great  Church — for  not  one  nation,  but  all  nations, 
something  greater  in  its  idea  and  its  potentiality  than  a  mere 
national  Church — had  actually  been  created ;  and  that  it  was 
destined  to  prevail  until  it  had  replenished  the  earth.  Here 
the  independent  race  and  nationality — the  independent  churchly 
ideas  also — of  the  Swiss  Reformed  Churchman  found  voice  and 
utterance.  To  Fletcher,  Methodism  was  already  a  great  Church, 
potentially  the  greatest  Church  of  the  world." 

All  accounts  agree  that  Fletcher  was  a  man  of  exceptional 
purity  of  character.  Canon  Overton,  the  High  Churchman, 
writes:  "Never,  perhaps,  since  the  rise  of  Christianity  has  the 
mind  which  was  in  Christ  Jesus  been  more  faithfully  copied 
than  it  was  in  the  vicar  of  Madeley. " 

The  philosophic  critic,  Isaac  Taylor,  concludes  that  "the 
Methodism  of  Fletcher  was  Christianity,  as  little  lowered  by 
admixture  of  human  infirmity  as  we  may  hope  to  find  it  any- 
where on  earth. "  "  In  a  genuine  sense  he  was  a  saint;  .  .  as 
unearthly  a  being  as  could  tread  the  earth  at  all. " 

Yet  the  Protestant  saint  was  no  recluse.  John  Fletcher's 
pure  and  lofty  heavenly  mindedness  did  not  alienate  him  from 
his  age.  His  asceticism,  as  Mr.  Macdonald  has  remarked,  was 
"the  asceticism  of  love,  and  not  of  bondage  or  of  fear."  He 
was  a  Methodist  of  the  Methodists,  and  he  was  delighted  when 
Wesley  succeeded  in  persuading  the  converts  at  Madeley  to 
meet  in  class.  He  built  a  Methodist  meetinghouse  in  his  vil- 
lage, and  regarded  Christian  fellowship  as  essential  to  a  New 
Testament  Church.  He  greeted  the  lay  preachers  as  brethren, 
and  his  appearance  at  Wesley's  Conferences  produced  the  same 


Setting  His  House  in  Order. 


277 


remarkable  spiritual  impression  on  them  as  it  did  on  his  visitors 
and  hearers  elsewhere. 

At  one  of  the  most  important  Conferences  Wesley  ever  had 
Fletcher  was  present  (1784).  Dr.  Coke  had  just  begun  the 
Foreign  Missionary  Society,  and  Wesley  had  just  signed  his 
famous  Deed  of  Declaration  constituting  the  Legal  Conference. 
When  Fletcher  preached  at  seven  on  the   Sunday  morning, 


Madeley  Parish  Church  and  Vicarage. 
Where  Rev.  John  Fletcher  was  vicar. 

Henry  Moore  records,  "The  shadow  of  the  divine  presence 
was  seen  among  us,  and  his  going  forth  was  in  our  sanctuary, " 
The  Conference  was  a  critical  one,  and  for  seven  days  the  new 
"deed"  was  debated.  Fletcher  was  at  prayer  at  two  or  three 
every  morning.  Turbulent  brethren  appealed  against  Wesley, 
but  Fletcher  acted  as  mediator.  To  Wesley,  now  eighty-one 
years  of  age,  he  said,  ' '  My  father !  my  father !  they  have  offended, 
but  they  are  your  children."  To  the  disputing  preachers, 
"  My  brethren !  my  brethren !  he  is  your  father !  "     Then  he  fell 


278  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

upon  his  knees  and  prayed  until  many  were  in  tears  and  sobbed 
aloud. 

Fletcher's  last  sermon  was  preached  in  Madeley  Church, 
August  7,  1785,  and  after  the  service  he  was  carried  fainting  to 
his  room.  A  week  later  he  died,  in  the  fifty-sixth  year  of  his 
age.  "  I  was  intimately  acquainted  with  him,"  says  John  Wes- 
ley, "for  about  thirty  years.  I  conversed  with  him  morning, 
noon,  and  night,  without  the  least  reserve,  during  a  journey  of 
many  hundred  miles;  and  in  all  that  time  I  never  heard  him 
speak  one  improper  word  nor  saw  him  do  an  improper  action. 
Many  exemplary  men  have  I  known,  holy  in  heart  and  life, 
within  fourscore  years;  but  one  equal  to  him  I  have  not  known ; 
one  so  inwardly  and  outwardly  devoted  to  God.  So  unblam- 
able a  character  in  every  respect  I  have  not  found  either  in 
Europe  or  America,  and  I  scarce  expect  to  find  such  another 
on  this  side  of  eternity."  "A  pattern  of  all  holiness,  scarce  to 
be  paralleled  in  a  century!"  His  widow,  Mary  Bosanquet, 
continued  for  many  years  as  an  evangelist  and  loving  benefac- 
tress of  her  kind. 

Fletcher's  refusal  to  assume  the  responsibilities  of  the  work 
left  John  Wesley  without  an  apparent  successor.  But  in  1784 
he  promulgated  his  plan  for  perpetuating  the  Methodist  organ- 
ization. This  was  the  Deed  of  Declaration — sometimes  named 
in  legal  phrase  the  Poll  Deed — which  he  executed  February  28, 
1784.  It  legally  defined  the  "  Conference  of  the  people  called 
Methodists, "  and  declared  "how  the  succession  and  identity 
thereof  is  to  be  continued." 

Wesley's  Poll  Deed  contained  the  names  of  a  hundred 
preachers  who  were  to  be  in  the  eye  of  the  law  what  Wesley 
himself  had  been  for  forty  years  in  relation  to  his  societies  and 
trust  property.  He  had  been  carefully  training  his  preachers 
for  his  responsibility.  In  a  letter  dated  1780  he  had  written,  "I 
chose  to  exercise  the  power  which  God  had  given  me  through 


Setting  His  House  in  O 


RDER. 


279 


X 


^"^  y^^rv~> 


jC\a~-ty^^ —    xv^;. 


Part  of  a  Letter  from  John  Wesley  to  John  Fletcher. 

the  Conference — both  to  avoid  ostentation,  and  gently  to  habit- 
uate the  people  to  obey  them  when  I  should  be  taken  from 
their  head."  This  Wesley  now  carried  out  more  fully  by 
merging  his  own  authority  in  that  of  the  Legal   Conference. 


28o  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

The  Conference  was  to  meet  annually,  fill  np  vacancies  in  its 
number,  elect  a  president  and  secretary,  station  the  preachers, 
admit  preachers  on  trial  and  into  full  connection,  and  maintain 
the  discipline  and  general  oversight  of  the  societies.  The  term 
of  appointments  for  itinerant  preachers  was  limited  to  three 
years.  The  deed  was  not  kept  in  reserve  until  Wesley's  death, 
as  some  writers  have  assumed,  but  five  months  after  its  execu- 
tion it  was  acted  upon  at  the  Conference  by  the  election  of  two 
preachers  to  fill  vacancies  in  the  Hundred,  and  by  the  formal 
signing  of  the  Minutes.  Wesley  was  chosen  president  year  by 
year  until  his  death.  Five  or  six  preachers  who  were  annoyed 
by  the  omission  of  their  names  from  the  Hundred  severed  their 
connection  with  Wesley,  but  at  the  Conference  of  1785  all  the 
preachers  present  signed  a  document  approving  both  of  the 
substance  and  design  of  the  deed. 

"Viewed  in  the  light  of  outward  appearances,"  wrote  Wil- 
liam Arthur,  "  the  enrollment  of  the  Deed  Poll  of  John  Wesley 
would  be  one  of  the  most  commonplace  of  events.  Viewed  in 
the  light  of  the  attention  given  to  it  at  the  time  by  men  of 
thought,  of  taste,  or  of  affairs,  it  would  rank  as  one  of  the 
most  insignificant;  not  of  more  consequence  than  the  execution 
of  his  will  by  an  ordinary  proprietor,  or  that  of  his  deed  of 
donation  by  the  founder  of  some  local  charity.  Viewed  in  the 
light  of  its  moral  intent,  however,  it  rose  to  the  rank  of  acts 
noble  and  wise.  Viewed  in  its  relations  to  Christianity  as  a 
collective  body  of  Churches,  it  belonged  to  the  category  of 
great  ecclesiastical  events;  and  viewed  in  the  light  shed  back 
upon  it  to-day  by  its  historical  results,  as  developed  up  to  the 
present  time,  it  must  be  placed  among  those  pregnant  acts  in 
human  affairs  to  which  in  successive  generations  other  preg- 
nant acts  have  to  trace  up  their  own  origin." 

Three  years  later  (November,  1787)  Wesley  took  another  step 
by  which,  as  Dr.  Stoughton  observes,  "he  became  practically  a 


Setting  His  House  in  Order.  281 

Dissenter, "  however  strongly  he  might  repudiate  the  term.  He 
decided  that  the  safest  way  to  safeguard  his  work  was  to  secure 
legal  licenses  for  his  chapels  and  preachers,  "not  as  Dissenters, " 
he  says,  "but  simply  as  preachers  of  the  Gospel."  By  his 
repeated  ordinations  of  preachers  to  minister  the  sacraments 
"according  to  the  usages  of  the  Church  of  England,"  he  finally 
broke  with  the  Church,  though  he  insisted  to  the  end  that  he 
remained  within  the  pale. 

After  quoting  many  of  Wesley's  appeals  to  the  Methodists 


/(ftiTU  d^  ?flu<  4u  '^A^^  c^?ty<t/i.-^  UiJr  J  JfX^  he^iiy^  A^wiiS'  ^ffMrif, 


j£r7C:n   £J^, 


Certificate  of  Robert  Gamble  as  Elder. 

Ordained  by  John  Wesley,  August  5,  1788. 

against  separation  from  the  Church  of  England,  Canon  Over- 
ton asks:  "But  some  years  before  Wesley  uttered  these  words, 
had  he  not  himself  done  the  very  thing  which  he  deprecated  ? 
Consciously  and  intentionally.  No!  a  thousand  times  no;  but 
virtually,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  we  must  reluctantly  answer.  Yes. 
Lord  Mansfield's  famous  dictum,  *  Ordination  is  separation, '  is 
unanswerable.  When,  in  1784,  Wesley  ordained  Coke  and 
Asbury  to  be  superintendents,  and  Whatcoat  and  Vasey  to  be 
elders,  he  to  all  intents  and  purposes  crossed  the  Rubicon." 


282  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

With  conspicuoiis  fairness  this  able  AngTican  historian  finds 
"the  true  explanation  of  Wesley's  conduct  in  this  matter  in  the 
intensely  practical  character  of  his  mind.  His  work  .  .  . 
seemed  likely  to  come  to  a  deadlock  for  want  of  ordained  min- 
isters. Thus  we  come  back  to  the  old  notion.  Everything 
must  be  sacrificed  for  the  sake  of  his  work.  Some  may  think 
this  was  doing  evil  that  good  might  come,  but  no  such  notion 
ever  entered  into  Wesley's  head;  his  rectitude  of  purpose,  if 
not  the  clearness  of  his  judgment,  is  as  conspicuous  in  this  as 
in  the  other  acts  of  his  life. " 


Contemporary  Portraits  of  John  Wesley. 


Drawn    and    engraved-  by   T.    HoUoway. 
Published  March  i,  1792. 

Ridley's  engraving,  from  a  miniature. 


Wesley  at  the  age  of  eighty-six,  probably 

by  John  Russell,  R.A. 

Ridley's  engraving,  from  the  drawing  by 

Eldrldge.    Published  March  i,  1792. 


The  Passing  of  John  Wesley.  285 


CHAPTER  XIX. 
The  Passing  of  John  Wesley. 

An  Active  Octogenarian. — Welcomed  in  Ireland. — Triumphal  Progresses. 
— "  I  do  not  Lack  for  Labor." — Last  Open-air  Sermon. — The 
Last  Text.— A  Last  Letter.—"  The  Best  of  All  is, 
God  is  with  Us ! " 

ON  the  verge  of  fourscore  Wesley  wrote :  "I  entered  into 
my  eightieth  year,  but,  blessed  be  God,  my  time  is  not 
labor  and  sorrow.  I  find  no  more  pain  nor  bodily 
infirmities  than  at  five-and-twenty.  This  I  still  impute  (i)  to 
the  power  of  God,  fitting  me  for  what  he  calls  me  to;  (2)  to  my 
still  traveling  four  or  five  thousand  miles  a  year;  (3)  to  my 
sleeping,  night  or  day,  whenever  I  want  it ;  (4)  to  my  rising  at 
a  set  hour;  and  (5)  to  my  constant  preaching,  particularly  in 
the  morning."  To  these  he  added,  "  Lastly,  evenness  of  tem- 
per. I  feel  and  grieve,  but,  by  the  grace  of  God,  I  fret  at 
nothing.  But  still,  *  the  help  that  is  done  upon  earth  he  doeth 
it  himself.'     And  this  he  doeth  in  answer  to  many  prayers. " 

It  was  not  until  he  was  eighty-five  that  he  began  to  feel  that 
he  was  not  "quite  so  agile  as  in  times  past,"  and  that  his  sight 
was  "a  little  decayed."  But  he  did  not  even  then  cease  to 
labor,  and  his  cheerfulness  was  irrepressible. 

The  days  of  persecution  for  him  were  past,  and  he  was 
crowned  with  honor  wherever  he  went.  A  year  after  his 
brother's  death  he  paid  his  last  visit  to  Ireland,  where  he 
remained  for  nearly  four  months.  The  mayors  of  Dublin  and 
Cork  accorded  him  civic  honors,  and  he  was  everywhere  a  cov- 
eted guest.  The  traditions  of  his  prayers  are  cherished  in  many 
an  Irish  family  to-day. 


286 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


He  took  a  nine  weeks'  tour  from  Dublin  through  sixty  towns 
and  villages,  preaching  a  hundred  sermons,  six  times  in  the 
open  air,  and  once  in  a  place  which  he  says  was  ' '  large  but  not 
elegant — a  cow  house."  "I  was  delighted, "  says  Alexander 
Knox,  "  to  find  his  cheerfulness  in  no  respect  abated.  It  was 
too  obvious  that  his  bodily  frame   was  sinking;  but  his  spirit 


The  High  Church,  Hull. 

When  nearly  eighty-three  5-ears  old  Wesley  preached  here  twice  to  throngs.  Next 
day  he  rode  seventy-six  miles,  preached  thrice,  and  at  night  was  "no  more  tired  than 
when  I  rose  in  the  morning." 

was  as  alert  as  ever,  and  he  was  little  less  the  light  of  the  com- 
pany he  happened  to  be  in  than  he  had  been  three-and-twenty 
years  before,  when  I  first  knew  him.  Such  unclouded  sunshine 
of  the  breast,  in  the  deepest  winter  of  age  and  on  the  felt  verge 
of  eternity,  bespoke  a  mind  whose  recollections  were  as  unsul- 
lied as  its  present  sensations  were  serene." 

He  presided  over  his  last  Irish  Conference  (1789),  and  wrote: 
' '  I  found  such  a  body  of  men  as  I  hardly  believed  could  have 


The  Passing  of  John  Wesley. 


287 


been  found  together  in  Ireland;  men  of  so  sound  experience, 
so  deep  piety,  and  so  strong  understanding.  I  am  convinced 
they  are  no  way  inferior  to  the  English  Conference,  except  it 
be  in  number." 

Wesley  closed  his  farewell  service  in  Ireland  with  his  brother's 
hymn,  "Come,  let  us  join  our  friends  above,"  pronouncing  it 
the  sweetest  hymn  his  brother  ever  wrote.     Before  going  on 


Wesley's  Study. 
His  workroom  in  the  house  in  City  Road,  London. 

shipboard  the  vast  crowd  on  the  quay  again  joined  him  in  sing- 
ing. He  then  knelt  down  and  asked  God  to  bless  them  and 
their  families,  the  Church,  and  their  coimtry.  Not  a  few  fell 
upon  his  neck  and  kissed  him.  As  the  ship  moved  from  the 
shore  the  Irish  people  saw  the  patriarch's  hands  still  uplifted  in 
prayer  for  the  land  he  loved  so  well,  and  "  they  saw  his  face 
no  more." 

After  Conference  in  1789  he  made  a  tour  of  Cornwall.   Where 
once  they  had  mobbed  him  they  now  lined  the  streets  to  stare 


288  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

"  as  if  the  king  were  going  by."     Twenty-five  thousand  people 
heard  him  preach  at  Gwennap  pit. 

He  wrote  on  January  i,  1790:  "I  am  now  an  old  man, 
decayed  from  head  to  foot.  My  eyes  are  dim;  my  right  hand 
shakes  much;  my  mouth  is  hot  and  dry  every  morning;  I  have 
a  lingering  fever  almost  every  day ;  my  motion  is  weak  and 
slow.  However,  blessed  be  God,  I  do  not  slack  my  labor;  I 
can  preach  and  write  still. "  He  continued  to  rise  at  four,  and 
was  a  prodigy  of  energy  and  industry.     Once  more  he  visited 

Scotland,     but     it     was     apparent 

^^  that  his   work   was   done.     On   his 

tT* y^-Z^'^T^-^     last    birthday,    June    28,    1790,    he 

k/  thinks  his  strength   ' '  probably  will 

^te  not  return  in  this  world.     But  I  feel 

^  ^^         no  pain  from  head  to  foot;  only  it 


seems    nature    is    exhausted,    and, 
humanly   speaking,  will    sink   more 


and  more  till  the  weary  springs  of 

Facsimile  of  Wesley's  Signature, 

1790.  life  stand  still."    Tyerman  truly  ob- 

From   the   manuscript   record   of      scrvCS,    "  No    WCary     child    of     iuUO- 
Bristol  Conference  Minutes.  '  ■' 

cence  ever  went  to  its  welcome 
couch  with  greater  serenity  than  Wesley  went  down  the  steps 
leading  to  his  sepulcher. " 

This  year  he  revisited  Epworth,  preaching  at  the  market 
cross.  Companies  of  people  went  with  him  from  village  to 
village,  men  walking  on  one  side  of  the  road  and  women  on  the 
other,  singing  as  they  walked,  guarding  their  precious  charge. 
His  salutation  to  the  crowds  as  he  passed  was  in  the  words  of 
his  favorite  apostle:   "Little  children,  love  one  another." 

The  last  Conference  he  attended  was  at  Bristol,  in  1790.  In 
England  there  were  now  71,463  members  of  society;  in  Amer- 
ica, 43,260;  and  on  the  mission  fields,  5,350.  The  results 
during  the  last  ten  years  of  Wesley's  life  were  more  than  double 


The  Passing  of  John  Weslev.  289 

the  united  results  of  the  forty  years  preceding-.  "The  Confer- 
ence business  over,  its  venerable  head — who  for  seventy  years 
had  directed  its  deliberations — attached  his  signature.  The 
autograph — preserved  now  as  a  precious  relic — too  clearly  indi- 


-o 


*~^<^ 


M 


J 


The  Last  Entry  in  Wesley's  Cash  Account. 

"  N.  B. — For  upwards  of  eighty-six  3'ears  I  have  kept  my  accounts  exactlj'.  I  will 
not  attempt  it  any  longer,  being  satisfied  with  the  continual  conviction  that  I  get  all  I 
can,  and  give  all  I  can,  that  is,  all  I  have." 


cates  that  his  eyes  were  dim,  and  that  his  hand  had  forgot  its 
cunning." 

But  still  he  traveled,  and  preached  in  Wales,  in  Bristol  and 
other  towns  in  the  west  and  south,  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  whose 
19 


290 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


"poor,  plain  artless  society"  delights  him.  Then  companies 
of  the  brethren  come  out  to  meet  him  as  he  returns  to  London. 
His  last  open-air  service  was  held  under  an  ash  tree  in  the 
churchyard  at  Winchelsea,  Sussex,  on  October  6,  1790.  He 
preached  at  noon,  that   the   people   who  were  at  work  might 


'-k:^*F':  :'e:^ 


^i 

^. 

%2^^H 

^fe 

^'  i  0  TisU  -'^^f^^^^P^^j,' 

^m 

m.  Ji^mM^^^^^^^^ 

^^m 

^^^I^KjUl^^^i^a^^ 

^^ 

5»a^     ^^^^PN^i^« 

The  House  at  Leatherhead  in  which  Wesley  Preached  His  Last  Sermon. 

The  main  entrance. 


Old  oaken  staircase. 


The  rear  entrance. 


hear.  He  stood  on  a  large  oak  dining  table,  and  spoke  from 
the  words,  "The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand ;  repent  ye,  and 
believe  the  gospel."  One  who  was  present  said,  "  The  word 
was  with  mighty  power,  and  the  tears  of  the  people  flowed  in 
torrents."  The  ash  was  long  known  as  "  Wesley's  tree, "  and 
the  vicar  of  the  parish  has  hard  work  to  protect  it  from  relic- 
hunting  pilgrims. 


The  Passing  of  John  Wesley.  291 


V k'^  ^ 


€r- 


/^*^J^  A^^A 


One  of  ^Vesley's  Last  Letters,  February  6,  1791. 

1' 
Alluding  to  tj  e  Bath  journey,  which  he  did  not  live  to  take. 

Henry  Crabb  R/'binson,  the  first  war  correspondent  of  the 
London  Times  and  one  of  the  founders  of  London  University, 
heard  Wesley  preach  at  Colchester,  and  says  that  he  stood  in  a 


292  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

wide  pulpit  and  on  each  side  of  him  was  a  minister,  the  two 
holding  him  up.  His  voice  was  scarcely  audible,  and  his  rev- 
erend countenance,  with  the  long  white  locks,  formed  a  picture 
never  to  be  forgotten.  ' '  Of  the  kind,  I  never  saw  anything 
comparable  to  it  in  after  life."  After  the  people  had  sung  a 
verse  Wesley  rose  and  said:  "  It  gives  me  a  great  pleasure  to 
find  that  you  have  not  lost  your  singing,  neither  men  nor 
women.  You  have  not  forgotten  a  single  note.  And  I  hope, 
by  the  assistance  of  God,  which  enables  you  to  sing  well, 
you  may  do  all  other  things  well."  A  universal  "  Amen  "  fol- 
lowed. A  little  ejaculation  or  prayer  of  three  or  four  words 
followed  each  division  of  the  sermon.  After  the  last  prayer 
Wesley  "  rose  up  and  addressed  the  people  on  liberality  of  sen- 
timent, and  spoke  much  against  refusing  to  join  with  any  con- 
gregation on  account  of  difference  of  opinion. " 

In  these  last  days  his  constant  prayer  was,  "Lord,  let  me 
not  live  to  be  useless;"  and  James  Rogers  tells  us  that  he 
often  closed  family  prayers  in  the  preachers'  home.  City  Road, 
with  the  verse : 

O  that  without  a  lingering  groan 

I  may  the  welcome  word  receive ; 
My  body  with  my  charge  lay  down, 

And  cease  at  once  to  work  and  live ! 

He  writes  his  last  letter  to  America  on  February  i,  1791: 
"Those  that  desire  to  write  ...  to  me  have  no  time  to  lose, 
for  time  has  shaken  me  by  the  hand,  and  death  is  not  far 
behind.  .  .  .  Lose  no  opportunity  of  declaring  to  all  men  that 
the  Methodists  are  one  people  in  all  the  world,  and  that  it  is 
their  full  determination  so  to  contimie. 

Though  mountains  rise,  and  oceans  roll, 
To  sever  us  in  vain." 

He  arranged  for  another  journey  to  Bath,  and  thence  north, 


The  Passing  of  John  Wesley. 


293 


Furniture  which  belonged  to  John  Wesley. 
Still  preserved  in  the  City  Road  vestry  and  Wesley's  house. 


294 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


but  that  journey  was  never  taken.  He  preached  for  the  last 
time  in  City  Road  Chapel  on  Tuesday  evening,  February  22. 
Next  day  he  preached  in  a  magistrate  s  house  at  Leatherhead, 

eighteen  miles  from  Lon- 


:^Ul\^  PfaliTiTune, 


M 


Szt 


XT 


33 


31 


n 


111  praife    my      Maker  while    I've 
Nj     Days     of  Praifefhall  ne'er  be 


Breath,     And  when  my    Voice   is   loft  in 
paft  ;      While  Life  and  Thotightand  Being 


^  i  ''    Md  (j 


Death,       Praife  fhall    employ'    my  nohler 
Ui\,^^  Or       Immor  -  ta  -  li".  ty 

— Q  I  Q     - 


^ 


M     t"^   {    Q 


-et 


Powers: 

dures . 


Happy  the  Man  whofe  Hopes  re. 

-e— €t 


On    Jj'raels  GOD;He  made  the 


And   Earth  and   Seas    with    all 


Wesley's  Last  Hymn. 

With  the  Huguenot  ttme  to  which  it  was  sung. 
From  the  Tune  Book  of  1742. 


don.  The  text  was,  "  Seek 
ye  the  Lord  while  he  may 
be  found  ;  call  ye  upon 
him  while  he  is  near." 
This  was  Wesley's  last 
sermon. 

The  last  of  his  innumer- 
able letters  was  addressed 
to  William  Wilberforce, 
the  anti-slavery  apostle. 
A  better  he  never  penned : 


London,  February  24,  1791. 

My  Dear  Sir  :  Unless  the 
divine  Power  has  raised  you 
lip  to  be  as  Athanasius,  co7itra 
niiindtivi,  I  see  not  how  you 
can  go  through  your  glorious 
enterprise  in  opposing  that 
execrable  villainy,  which  is  the 
scandal  of  religion, of  England, 
and  of  human  nature.  Unless 
God  has  raised  you  up  for  this 
very  thing,  you  will  be  worn 
out  by  the  opposition  of  men 
and  devils;  but  if  God  be  for 
you,  who  can  be  against  you? 
Are  all  of  them  together 
stronger  than  God  ?  O  "  be 
not  weary  in  well-doing."  Go 
on,  in  the  name  of  God,  and 


in  the  power  of  his  might,  till  even  American  slavery,  the  vilest  that  ever 
saw  the  sun,  shall  vanish  away  before  it. 

Reading  this  morning  a  tract,  wrote  by  a  poor  African,  I  was  particu- 
larly struck  by  that  circumstance — that  a  man  who  has  a  black  skin,  being 


The  Passing  of  John  Weslky. 


297 


wronged  or  outraged  by  a  white  man,  can  have  no  redress,  it  being  a  law 
in  our  colonies  that  the  oath  of  a  black  against  a  white  goes  for 
nothing.     What  villainy  is  this ! 

That  He  who  has  guided  you  from  your  youth  up  may  continue  to 
strengthen  you  in  this  and  all  things,  is  the  prayer  of,  dear  sir,  your 
affectionate  servant,  John  Wesley. 

Weakness  grew  upon  him  daily.  He  was  taken  to  the  house 
in  City  Road,  but  was  very  feeble.     One  day  he  would  have 


Key  to  the  Painting  "John  Wesley's  Deathbed." 


1.  Rev.  John  Wesley,  A.M. 

2.  Rev.  Peard  Dickinson,  A.M. 

3.  Rev.  Joseph  Bradford. 

4.  Miss  Sarah  Wesley. 

5.  Medical  Assistant  to  Dr.  Whitehead. 

6.  Mrs.  Charles  Wesley. 

7.  Rev.  Thomas  Rankin. 

8.  Mrs.  Hester  Ann  Rogers. 

9.  Miss  Ritchie  (Mrs.  Mortimer), 
o.  Rev.  James  Rogers. 


11.  Rev.  James  Creighton,  A.M. 

12.  Master  Rogers. 

13.  Robert  Carr  Brackenbury,  Esq. 

14.  Rev.  Thomas  Broadbent. 

15.  Rev.  John  Broadbent. 

16.  John  Horton,  Esq. 

17.  Rev.  Alexander  Mather. 

18.  George  Whitfield  (Book  Steward). 

19.  Rev.  Jonathan  Edmondson. 

20.  Dr.  Whitehead. 


written,  but  could  not  wield  the  pen.     Miss  Ritchie  suggested, 
"  Let  me  write  for  you,  sir;  tell  me  what  you  would  say." 
'      "Nothing,"  he  replied,    "but   that  God  is  with  us."     He 
begged  the  friends  who  had  gathered  round  him  to  "pray  and 
praise,"  responding  with  a  fervent  "Amen"  to  their  petitions. 


298  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

He  grasped  their  hands  and  said,  "Farewell,  farewell."  As 
others  entered  the  room  he  tried  to  speak,  but  finding  they 
could  not  understand  him,  he  summoned  all  his  remaining 
strength  and  cried  out,  "The  best  of  all  is,  God  is  with  us." 
Then  lifting  up  his  dying  arms  in  token  of  victory,  and  raising 
his  feeble  voice  with  a  holy  triumph  not  to  be  expressed,  he 
again  repeated  the  heart-reviving  words,  ' '  The  best  of  all  is, 
God  is  wdth  us." 

When  Mrs.  Charles  Wesley  moistened  his  lips  he  repeated 
the  thanksgiving  which  he  had  always  used  after  meals,  "We 
thank  thee,  O  Lord,  for  these  and  all  thy  mercies;  bless  the 
Church  and  the  king;  and  grant  us  truth  and  peace,  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  forever  and  ever." 

During  the  night  he  was  often  heard  to  say,  "I'll  praise — 
I'll  praise."  Next  morning,  about  ten  o'clock,  Joseph  Bradford, 
his  faithful  companion  and  nurse,  prayed  at  the  bedside,  where 
eleven  of  Wesley's  friends  were  assembled.  The  dying  patri- 
arch was  heard  to  say,  "Farewell;"  then  as  Bradford  was 
repeating,  "Lift  up  your  heads,  O  ye  gates;  and  be  ye  lift 
up,  ye  everlasting  doors;  and  this  heir  of  glory  shall  come  in!  " 
he  entered,  "without  a  lingering  groan,"  into  the  joy  of  his 
Lord. 

His  friends  standing  around  sang: 

Waiting  to  receive  thy  spirit, 

Lo,  the  Saviour  stands  above, 
Shows  the  purchase  of  his  merit, 

Reaches  out  the  crown  of  love. 

Then  they  knelt  down,  and  Mr.  Rogers  led  them  in  prayer 
"  for  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost  on  us  and  all  who  mourn 
the  loss  the  Church  militant  sustains  by  the  removal  of  our 
much-loved  father  to  his  great  reward." 

John  Wesley  died  on  Wednesday,  March  2,  1791,  in  his 
eighty-eighth  year.     The  day  before  his  funeral  his  body  was 


The  Passing  of  John  Wesley. 


299 


Mask  of  John  Wesley. 

Froin  the  plaster-mold  of  his  face  taken  after  his  death. 


laid  in  City  Road  Chapel,  and  ten  thousand  persons  passed 
through  the  building  to  take  a  last  look  upon  his  face.  The 
poet  Rogers  was  one  of  the  number,  and  was  wont  to  speak  of 
the  peace  and  beauty  of  the  face,  on  which  there  lingered  a 
heavenly  smile. 


300 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


To  lessen  the  dangers  of  a  vast  crowd  it  was  thought  desir- 
able for  the  funeral  to  take  place  in  the  early  morning  of 
Wednesday,  March  9.  The  service  was  read  by  the  Rev.  John 
Richardson,  one  of  the  clergymen  who  had  helped  Wesley  for 
nearly  thirty  years.  When  he  came  to  the  words,  "Foras- 
much as  it  hath  pleased  Almighty  God  to  take  unto  himself 


Tomb  of  the  Rev.  John  Wesley. 


the  soul  of  our  dear  brother,"  and  substituted  with  profoimd 
feeling  the  word  "father,  "the  throng  of  people  were  deeply 
affected,  and  loud  sobs  took  the  place  of  silent  tears. 

In  one  of  his  American  addresses  of  1878  Dean  Stanley 
said:  "  On  visiting  in  London  the  City  Road  Chapel,  in  which 
John  Wesley  ministered,  and  the  cemetery  adjoining,  in  which 
he  is  buried,  I  asked  an  old  man  who  showed  me  the  cemetery 


The  Passing  of  John  Wesley. 


301 


— I    asked    him,    perhaps   inadvertently,    and    as    an    English 
Churchman  might  naturally  ask — 'By  whom  was  this  cemetery 


*T^' 


Vki&ii'ili 


Wesley's  Tablet  in  City  Road. 


consecrated  ? '  And  he  answered,  '  It  was  consecrated  by  the 
bones  of  that  holy  man,  that  holy  servant  of  God,  John 
Wesley. ' " 

At  the  first  Conference  after  Wesley's  death  Joseph  Bradford 


302  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

produced  a  sealed  letter,  which  Wesley  had  charged  him  to 
deliver  to  the  president,  containing  his  last  counsels  to  the 
Conference.  It  was  dated  1785,  and  stated  that  some  of  the 
traveling  preachers  had  expressed  a  fear  lest  those  who  were 
named  in  the  Deed  of  Declaration  should  exclude  their  breth- 
ren "either  from  preaching  in  connection  with  you  or  from 
some  other  privileges  which  they  now  enjoy.  I  know  no  other 
way  to  prevent  any  such  inconvenience  than  to  leave  these, 
my  last  words,  with  you.  I  beseech  you,  by  the  mercies  of 
God,  that  you  never  avail  yourselves  of  the  Deed  of  Declara- 
tion to  assume  any  superiority  over  your  brethren,  but  let 
all  things  go  on  among  those  itinerants  who  choose  to  remain 
together  exactly  in  the  same  manner  as  when  I  was  with  you, 
so  far  as  circumstances  will  permit.  In  particular,  I  beseech 
you,  if  you  ever  loved  me,  and  if  you  now  love  God  and  your 
brethren,  to  have  no  respect  for  persons  in  stationing  the 
preachers,  in  choosing  children  for  the  Kingswood  School,  in 
disposing  of  the  yearly  contribution  and  the  preachers'  fund, 
or  any  other  public  money.  But  do  all  things  with  a  single 
eye,  as  I  have  done  from  the  beginning.  Go  on  thus,  doing  all 
things  without  prejudice  or  partiality,  and  God  will  be  with 
you  even  to  the  end. " 


The  True  John  Wesley.  303 


CHAPTER  XX. 

The  True  John  Wesley. 

John  Wesley's  Appearance. — His   Habits. — His  Temperament. — His 

Tact. — His  Love  of  Children. — His  Unhappy  Matrimonial 

E-xperience. — His  Wit  and  Humor^ — His  Freedom 

from  Selfish  Ambition. — Asbnry's  Tribute. 

QANY  authentic  portraits,  from  Williams,  in  1763,  to 
Romney,  in  1788,  have  given  John  Wesley's  features 
to  the  world.  His  hazel  eyes  are  said  to  have  been 
bright  and  penetrating,  even  to  the  last.  In  youth  his  hair 
was  black,  and  in  old  age  silvery  white.  In  height  he  was  not 
quite  five  feet  six  inches,  and  he  weighed  one  hundred  and 
twenty-two  poimds;  his  frame  was  well  knit,  muscular,  and 
strong.  He  was  scrupulously  neat  in  his  person  and  habits, 
and  wore  a  narrow-plaited  stock,  a  coat  with  a  small  upright 
collar,  buckled  shoes,  and  three-cornered  hat.  "I  dare  no 
more,"  he  said  in  his  old  age,  "write  in  a  fine  style  than  wear 
a  fine  coat."  "Exactly  so,"  remarks  Overton,  "but,  then,  he 
was  particular  about  his  coats.  He  was  most  careful  never  to 
be  slovenly  in  his  dress,  always  to  be  dressed  in  good  taste. 
...  It  is  just  the  same  with  his  style;  it  is  never  slovenly, 
never  tawdry." 

In  his  habits  of  order,  account-keeping,  and  punctuality 
he  was  literally  a  "methodist."  "Sammy,"  said  he  to  his 
nephew,  ' '  be  punctual.  Whenever  I  am  to  go  to  a  place  the 
first  thing  I  do  is  to  get  ready;  then  what  time  remains  is  all 
my  own. "  In  old  age,  as  he  stood  waiting  for  his  chaise  at 
Haslingden,  he  remarked,  "  I  have  lost  ten  minutes,  and  they 
are  lost  forever. " 


304  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

Every  minute  liad  its  value  to  him  for  work  or  rest. 
"Joshua,  when  I  go  to  bed  I  go  to  bed  to  sleep,  and  not  to 
talk,"  was  his  rebuke  to  a  young  preacher  who  once  shared  his 
room  and  wished  to  converse  at  sleeping  time. 

Dr.  Johnson  once  said  to  Boswell:  "John  Wesley's  conver- 
sation is  good,  but  he  is  never  at  leisure.  He  is  always  obliged 
to  go  at  a  certain  hour.  This  is  very  disagreeable  to  a  man 
who  loves  to  fold  his  legs  and  have  his  talk  out,  as  I  do. "  On 
another  occasion  he  said,  "I  hate  to  meet  John  Wesley;  the 
dog  enchants  you  with  his  conversation,  and  then  breaks  away 
to  go  and  visit  some  old  woman." 

Yet  Wesley  was  never  hurried  in  mind  or  manner,  "He 
had  no  time,"  says  Henry  Moore,  "to  mend  anything  that 
he  either  wrote  or  did.  He  therefore  always  did  everything 
not  only  with  quietness,  but  with  what  might  be  thought 
slowness. " 

Wesley  was  a  delightful  companion,  and  his  comrades  on 
the  road  and  friends  in  the  home  witness  to  his  cheerfulness, 
courtesy,  kindness,  and  wit.  "  vSour  godliness  is  the  devil's 
religion, "  was  one  of  his  sayings.  He  told  Mr.  Blackwell  that 
he  could  not  bear  to  have  people  about  him  who  were  in  ill 
humor,  and  he  did  his  best  to  cure  them. 

Knox,  as  we  have  seen,  was  charmed  with  Wesley's  habitual 
cheerfulness.  When  he  first  met  him  he  tried  to  form  an 
impartial  judgment  of  his  character,  and  wrote:  "So  fine  an 
old  man  I  never  saw!  The  happiness  of  his  mind  beamed 
forth  in  his  countenance.  Every  look  showed  how  fully  he 
enjoyed  '  the  gay  remembrance  of  a  life  well  spent. '  Wher- 
ever Wesley  went  he  diffused  a  portion  of  his  own  feHcity. 
Easy  and  affable  in  his  demeanor,  he  accommodated  himself 
to  every  sort  of  company,  and  showed  how  happily  the  most 
finished  courtesy  may  be  blended  with  the  most  perfect  piety. 
In  his  conversation  we  might  be  at  a  loss  whether  to  admire 


20 


John  Wesley. 
From  the  portrait  by  J.  Jackson,  R.A. 


The  True  John  Wesley.  307 

most  his  fine  classical  taste,  his  extensive  knowledge  of  men 
and  things,  or  his  overflowing  goodness  of  heart.  While  the 
grave  and  serious  were  charmed  with  his  wisdom,  his  sportive 
sallies  of  innocent  mirth  delighted  even  the  young  and  thought- 
less; and  both  saw  in  his  iminterrupted  cheerfulness  the  excel- 
lency of  true  religion.  No  cynical  remarks  on  the  levity  of 
youth  embittered  his  discourses.  No  applausive  retrospect  to 
past  times  marked  his  present  discontent.  In  him  even  old 
age  appeared  delightful,  like  an  evening  without  a  cloud ;  and 
it  was  impossible  to  observe  him  without  wishing  fervently, 
'  May  my  latter  end  be  like  his! '  " 

Wesley  and  one  of  his  preachers  were  once  taking  lunch  with 
a  gentleman  whose  daughter  had  been  greatly  impressed  by 
Wesley's  preaching.  The  itinerant,  a  man  of  very  plain  man- 
ners and  little  tact,  was  conversing  with  the  young  lady,  who 
was  remarkable  for  her  beauty.  He  noticed  that  she  wore  a 
number  of  rings,  and  taking  hold  of  her  hand,  he  raised  it,  and 
called  Wesley's  attention  to  the  sparkling  gems.  "What  do 
yoti  think  of  this,  sir,"  said  he,  "for  a  Methodist's  hand?" 
The  girl  turned  crimson,  and  the  question  was  awkward  for 
Wesley,  whose  aversion  to  all  display  of  jewelry  was  so  well 
known.  But  the  aged  evangelist  showed  a  tact  Chesterfield 
might  have  envied.  With  a  quiet,  benevolent  smile  he  looked 
up,  and  simply  said,  "The  hand  is  very  beautiful."  The 
young  lady  appeared  at  evening  service  without  her  jewels, 
and  became  an  earnest  Christian. 

Of  Wesley's  love  for  children  many  anecdotes  are  told. 
Robert  Southey  says :  "I  was  in  a  house  in  Bristol  where 
Wesley  was.  When  a  mere  child,  on  running  down  stairs 
before  him  with  a  beautiful  little  sister  of  my  own,  whose 
ringlets  were  floating  over  her  shoulders,  he  overtook  us  on 
the  landing  and  took  my  sister  in  his  arms  and  kissed  her. 
Placing  her  on  her  feet  again,  he  then  put  his  hand  upon  my 


3o8 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


head  and  blessed  me,  and  I  feel  as  though  I  had  the  blessing 
of  that  good  man  upon  me  at  the  present  moment."  As 
Southey  spoke  the  last  words  his  eyes  glistened  with  tears,  and 
his  voice  showed  what  deep  emotion  the  memory  of  that  scene 
of  his  childhood  awakened. 

John  Wesley's  marriage  presents  a  sad  contrast  to  his  broth- 
er's happy  union.  Dr.  Rigg,  in  his  Living  Wesley,  with  psy- 
chological insight  and  balanced  judgment  has  forever  vindicated 
Wesley,  and  the  Christian  women  with  whom  he  was  brought 
into  close   relations  before  and  after  his  unhappy  marriage. 


Wesley's  Field  Bible,  with  Case. 

from  the  austere  and  by  no  means  discriminating  or  delicate 
criticism  of  more  voluminous  writers  on  the  subject.  Wesley's 
letters,  he  says,  reveal  his  "extreme  natural  susceptibility  to 
whatever  was  graceful  and  amiable  in  woman,  especially  if 
united  to  mental  vigor  and  moral  excellence.  He  had  been 
brought  up  in  the  society  of  clever  and  virtuous  women— his 
sisters— and  it  seems  as  if  he  could  at  no  time  in  his  life  dis- 
pense with  the  exquisite  and  stimulating  pleasure  which  he 
found  in  female  society  and  correspondence.  He  was  natu- 
rally a  woman  worshiper— at  least  a  worshiper  of  such  women. 
An  almost  reverent  courtesy,   a  warm  but  pure  affection,  a 


The  True  John  Wesley. 


309 


delicate  but  close  familiarity,  marked  through  life  his  rela- 
tions with  the  good  and  gifted  women — gifted  they  were,  for 
the  most  part—with  whom  he  maintained  friendship  and 
correspondence. " 

Alexander  Knox,  who  convinced  Southey  of  Wesley's  free- 


The  Title-page  of  Wesley's  Field  Bible. 

This  volume  is  handed  down  from  president  to  president  of  the  Wesleyan  Conference, 

as  a  badge  of  office. 

dom  from  personal  ambition,  also  wrote  to  Hannah  IMore  a 
letter  which  reveals  an  unbiased  critic's  view  of  Wesley's  rela- 
tion to  his  women  friends.  He  is  writing  of  Wesley's  friend- 
ship with  Miss  Knox,  and  having  transcribed  a  note  to  himself, 


3IO  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

in  which  Wesley  sends  an  earnest  message  to  "My  dear  Sally 
Knox,"  declaring  that  he  "loves  her  dearly,  and  shall  be 
glad  to  meet  her  at  our  Lord's  right  hand,"  Mr.  Knox  proceeds 
as  follows:  "John  Wesley's  impressible  nature  inclined  him  to 
conceive  such  attachments,  and  the  childlike  innocence  of  his 
heart  disposed  him  to  express  them  with  the  most  amiable 
simplicity.  The  gayety  of  his  nature  was  so  undiminished  in 
its  substance,  while  it  was  divinely  disciplined  in  its  move- 
ments, that  to  the  latest  hour  of  his  life  there  was  nothing 
innocently  pleasant  with  which  he  was  not  pleased,  and  nothing 
naturally  lovely  which,  in  its  due  proportion,  he  was  not  ready 
to  love.  To  interesting  females,  especially,  this  affection  con- 
tinually showed  itself;  of  its  nature  and  kind,  what  he  says  of 
my  sister  gives  a  striking  manifestation." 

This  susceptibility  of  Wesley  shows  that  his  somewhat  ascetic 
and  intensely  busy  public  life  and  his  ecclesiastical  statesman- 
ship did  not  crush  his  tender  human  feeling,  as  some  of  his 
critics  have  supposed. 

In  four  instances  Wesley  the  friend  became  a  lover  before 
he  made  the  fatal  mistake  of  marrying  one  who  proved  unwor- 
thy of  his  affection.  Miss  Betty  Kirkham,  the  sister  of  one  of 
the  earliest  Oxford  Methodists,  was  his  first  love.  With  her 
he  corresponded  in  the  curious  stilted  manner  of  the  day — a 
style  he  afterward  utterly  forsook.  In  those  first  love  letters 
he  transformed  prosaic  Betty  into  the  romantic  "Varanese, " 
just  as  in  his  later  correspondence  with  Mrs.  Pendarves 
(Delany)  he  named  that  lady  "Aspasia, "  his  brother  Charles 
"Cyrus,"  and  himself  "Araspes."  Then  came  his  ill-fated 
love  affair  with  Miss  Hopkey,  in  Georgia,  which  revealed  what 
Canon  Overton  calls  ' '  his  extreme  guilelessness,  his  readiness 
to  believe  the  best  of  everybody,  his  utterly  unsuspicious 
nature."  But  the  broken  courtship  which  brought  him  most 
pain  was  with  Mrs.  Grace  Murray. 


The  True  John  Wesley. 


311 


Grace  Murray,  a  sailor's  widow,  was  then  a  devoted  worker 
in  the  orphanage  at  Newcastle.  She  had  a  hundred  members 
in  her  classes,  was  a  skillful  housekeeper,  and  nursed  the  sick 
itinerants  who  found  refuge  in  Wesley's  northern  home.  In 
spite  of  the  pungent  aspersions  of  Tyerman  there  is  nothing 


Mrs.  Pendarves. 
Afterward  Mrs.  Delany,  with  whom  John  Wesley  corresponded. 

in  the  history  of  her  residence  at  the  orphanage  inconsistent 
with  the  conclusion  that  "she  was  a  woman  not  only  of  singu- 
lar tact,  but  of  attractive  modesty  and  of  deep  piety."  All 
who  knew  her  best  testify  to  this;  her  diary,  and  the  savor  of 
her  piety,  and  long  after-life  as  a  wife  and  widow  of  another 


312  John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 

than  Wesley  confirm  this.  Canon  Overton  is  in  evident  sym- 
pathy with  Charles  Wesley's  strong  objection  to  having  "a 
ci-devant  servant-maid  for  his  sister-in-law."  But  she  was 
far  superior  in  intelligence  and  true  refinement  to  many 
"ladies  of  quality  "  of  the  coarse  Georgian  period.  That  she 
manifested  weakness  and  vacillation  under  circumstances  of 
great  perplexity  may  be  granted,  but  in  a  woman  of  tender 
conscience  and  compassionate  heart,  surrounded  by  conflicting 
counselors,  this  is  not  surprising.  John  Bennet,  one  of  Wes- 
ley's preachers,  and  John  Wesley  himself  both  fell  in  love  with 
her.  She  had  nursed  the  former  through  an  illness  of  six 
months,  in  1747,  and  next  year  Wesley  was  under  her  care  for 
six  days.  She  accompanied  the  preachers  on  their  journeys  to 
assist  in  village  work,  in  leading  bands  and  classes,  and  address- 
ing small  gatherings.  According  to  the  custom  of  that  cen- 
tury, when  women  everywhere  rode  on  pillion  behind  serving- 
man,  friend,  or  relative,  she  followed  the  fashion.  Mrs. 
Charles  Wesley  did  the  same.  Mr.  Tyerman  reflects  on  Wes- 
ley for  thus  taking  Grace  Murray  with  him  on  journeys  when 
there  was  special  work  for  her  to  do.  Wesley's  contemporaries 
would  have  thought  no  evil  of  this,  nor  was  there  any  impro- 
priety in  it.  She  corresponded  with  John  Bennet,  and,  though 
there  does  not  appear  to  have  been  a  definite  agreement 
between  them,  their  marriage  was  no  doubt  looked  forward  to 
by  both;  but  when  John  Wesley,  with  characteristic  decision, 
made  her  an  offer  of  marriage  in  August,  1748,  she  accepted  it 
with  surprise  and  delight.  But  John  Bennet  proved  to  be  a 
successful  rival,  persuaded  Grace  Murray  that  it  was  her  duty 
to  marry  him,  and  said  that  if  she  did  not,  he  should  "run 
mad."  Charles  Wesley  intervened,  alarmed  at  the  thought  of 
his  brother  marrying  a  woman  who  was  so  inferior  to  his  own 
wife  in  social  station.  He  saw  Grace  Murray  and  passionately 
remonstrated  with  her — "  Grace  Murray,  you  have  broken  my 


The  True  John  Wesley.  313 

heart!"  The  weak,  distressed,  and  vacillating-  woman  rode 
with  him  to  Newcastle  and  fell  at  Bennet's  feet,  begging  for- 
giveness for  using  him  so  badly.  Within  a  week  she  became 
John  Bennet's  wife. 

Bennet  soon  left  Wesley,  taking  with  hira  the  majority  of 
the  members  at  Bolton  and  Stockport.  He  afterward  became 
a  Calvinistic  minister  at  Warburton,  where  he  died,  in  1759. 

The  loss  of  Grace  Murray  was  the  greatest  personal  sorrow 
of  John  Wesley's  life.  Very  pathetic  are  the  letters  and  verses 
in  which  he  refers  to  the  event.  He  did  not  meet  her  again 
until  1788.  "The  meeting  was  affecting,"  says  Moore,  who 
was  present;  "  but  Mr.  Wesley  preserved  more  than  his  usual 
self-possession.  It  was  easy  to  see,  notwithstanding  the  many 
years  which  had  intervened,  that  both  in  sweetness  of  spirit 
and  in  person  and  manners  she  was  a  fit  subject  for  the  tender 
regrets  expressed  in  his  verses.  The  interview  did  not  con- 
tinue long,  and  I  do  not  remember  that  I  ever  heard  Mr.  Wes- 
ley mention  her  name  afterward." 

If  Wesley  had  married  Grace  Murray  he  would  have  been 
saved  from  the  matrimonial  disaster  which  afterward  befell 
him.  In  1751  he  married  Mrs.  Vazeille,  the  widow  of  a  Lon- 
don merchant.  Wesley  took  care  that  her  fortune  should  be 
.settled  on  herself  and  children,  and  it  was  agreed  that  he  should 
not  preach  one  sermon  or  travel  one  mile  less  than  before  his 
marriage.  During  the  first  four  years  Mrs.  Wesley  accom- 
panied her  husband  on  many  of  his  journeys,  but  she  naturally 
grew  discontented  with  the  discomforts  of  this  unsettled  life, 
and  when  she  remained  at  home  she  became  possessed  of  such 
an  absurd  jealousy  of  her  husband  that  she  almost  became  a 
monomaniac. 

Charles  Wesley  early  discovered  her  to  be  of  an  angry  and 
bitter  spirit,  and  in  1753  wrote  to  his  own  amiable  wife:  "I 
called,  two  minutes  before  preaching,  on  Mrs,  Wesley  at  the 


314 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


Foundry,  and  in  all  that  time  had  not  one  quarrel."  He  begs 
his  wife  to  be  courteous  without  trusting  her.  She  acted  with 
such  unreasonable  malice  that  it  is  charitable  to  accept  the 
suggestion  that  she  was  at  times  mentally  unsound.  She  seized 
her  husband's  papers,  interpolated  his  letters,  and  then  gave 


Mrs.  John  Wesley, 

Mrs.  Vazeille,  to  whom  John  Wesley  was  married,  1751. 

them  into  the  hands  of  his  enemies  or  published  them  in  the 
newspapers.  She  shut  up  Charles  Wesley  with  her  husband  in 
a  room,  and  told  them  of  their  faults  with  much  detail  and  vio- 
lence. Charles  called  her  his  "best  friend,"  for  this  service, 
but  began  to  recite  Latin  poetry  and  persisted  until  she  at  last 
set  her  prisoners  free.  He  had  tried  this  device  with  good 
effect  on  his  voyage  from  Georgia. 


The  True  John  Wesley.  315 

Sometimes  Mrs.  Wesley  drove  a  hundred  miles  to  see  who 
was  with  her  husband  in  his  carriage.  John  Hampson,  one  of 
Wesley's  preachers,  witnessed  her  in  one  of  her  fits  of  fury,  and 
said,  "More  than  once  she  laid  violent  hands  upon  him,  and 
tore  those  venerable  locks  which  had  suffered  sufficiently  from 
the  ravages  of  time."  She  often  left  him,  but  returned  again 
in  answer  to  his  entreaties.  In  1771  he  writes:  "For  what 
cause  I  know  not,  my  wife  set  out  for  Newcastle,  purposing 
'never  to  return.'  Non  cam  rcliqui ;  non  dimisi ;  11011  revo- 
cabo."  (I  did  not  forsake  her;  I  did  not  dismiss  her;  I  shall 
not  recall  her.) 

In  1774a  petulant  letter  shows  she  was  still  with  her  husband. 
She  died  at  Camberwell,  in  1781,  when  Wesley  was  in  the  West 
of  England.  Jackson  in  his  Life  of  Charles  Wesley  says  that 
several  letters  of  Wesley  to  his  termagant  wife,  during  his 
worst  trials  from  her,  show  "the  utmost  tenderness  of  affec- 
tion, such  as  few  female  hearts  could  have  withstood;  and  jus- 
tify the  opinion  that,  had  it  been  his  happiness  to  be  married 
to  a  person  who  was  worthy  of  him,  he  could  have  been  one  of 
the  most  affectionate  husbands  that  ever  lived.  Those  who 
think  that  he  was  constitutionally  cold  and  repulsive  utterly 
mistake  his  character. " 

He  told  Henry  Moore  that  he  believed  God  overruled  this 
prolonged  sorrow  for  his  good;  and  that  if  Mrs.  Wesley  had 
been  a  better  wife,  and  had  continued  to  act  in  that  way  she 
knew  well  how  to  act,  he  might  have  been  unfaithful  to  his 
great  work,  and  might  have  sought  too  much  to  please  her 
according  to  her  own  desires. 

Of  wit  and  humor  there  is  much  in  the  Journals,  and  much 
more  in  the  pithy  letters  which  he  was  continually  sending  to 
his  preachers.  His  anecdotes  and  racy  sayings  often  supplied 
a  tonic  much  needed  by  some  of  these  itinerants 

He  was  naturally  quick-tempered,  and  sometimes  said  sharp 


3i6 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


things,  but  he  was  yet  quicker  to  apologize  if  he  felt  he  had 
spoken  too  hastily  and  in  anger.  He  was  incapable  of  malice, 
and  was  marvelously  ready  to  forgive  his  most  cruel  traducers 
and  bitterest  opponents. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  Wesley  was  sometimes  too  ready  to 

believe  the  marvelous,  and 
that  his  guileless  trustful- 
ness of  his  fellow-men  be- 
trayed him  into  practical 
errors  during  his  half 
century  of  labor.  "My 
brother, "  said  Charles 
Wesley,  "was,  I  think, 
born  for  the  benefit  of 
knaves."  He  was  too 
prone  to  take  men  and 
women  at  their  own  es- 
timates. He  attributed 
to  the  immediate  inter- 
position of  Providence 
events  which  might  be  at- 
tributed to  natural  causes. 
He  was  too  ready  to  regard 
the  physical  phenomena 
of  the  early  years  of  the 
revival  as  spiritual  signs, 
though  he  checked  them 
when  he  was  convinced  of 
their  imposture. 
Southey  was  convinced  by  Knox   of  his  error  in  regarding 

selfish   ambition   as   a   leading  feature  in  Wesley's  character. 

Canon  Overton  truly  says  that  "  Knox  knew  Wesley  intimately; 

Southey  did  not.  "     Knox,  who  united  wide  culture  with  ardent 


The  Memorial  Tablet  to  John  and  Charles 
Wesley  m  Westminster  Abbey. 


The  True  John  Wesley.  317 

piety,  but  who  differed  from  Wesley  in  some  of  his  opinions, 
speaks  thus  of  his  motives:  "The  slightest  suspicion  of  pride, 
ambition,  selfishness,  or  personal  gratification  of  any  kind 
stimulating  Mr.  Wesley  in  any  instance,  or  mixing  in  any 
measure  with  the  movements  of  his  life,  never  once  entered 
into  my  mind.  That  such  charges  were  made  by  his  opponents 
I  could  not  be  ignorant.  But  my  deep  impression  remains 
unimpaired — that  since  the  days  of  the  apostles  there  has  not 
been  a  human  being  more  thoroughly  exempt  from  all  those 
frailties  of  human  nature  than  John  Wesley."  "And  this," 
says  Overton,  "is  the  unvarying  strain  of  those  who  knew 
Wesley  best. "  He  was  a  born  ruler  of  men,  but  he  used  his 
extraordinary  power  for  no  selfish  ends.  He  ruled  preachers 
and  people  with  absolute  authority,  but  he  was  no  despot.  He 
was  the  patriarch  of  his  people,  and  they  knew  he  spoke  the 
truth  when  he  said :  ' '  The  power  I  have  I  never  sought ;  it  was 
the  unexpected  result  of  the  work  which  God  was  pleased  to 
work  by  me.  I  therefore  suffer  it  till  I  can  find  some  one  to 
ease  me  of  my  burden."  When  he  heard  that  men  said  he  was 
"  shackling  freeborn  Englishmen,"  "making  himself  a  pope," 
and  exercising  arbitrary  power,  he  replied  with  characteristic 
artlessness:  "  If  you  mean  by  arbitrary  power  a  power  which  I 
exercise  singly,  without  any  colleague  therein,  this  is  certainly 
true ;  but  I  see  no  harm  in  it.  Arbitrary  in  this  sense  is  a  very 
harmless  word.  I  bear  this  burden  merely  for  your  sakes. " 
He  possessed,  as  Macaulay  says,  "a  genius  for  government." 
Matthew  Arnold  ascribes  to  him  "a  genius  for  godliness." 
Southey  considered  him  ' '  a  man  of  great  views,  great  energies, 
and  great  virtues;  the  most  influential  mind  of  the  last  century; 
the  man  who  will  have  produced  the  greatest  effects  centuries, 
or,  perhaps,  millenniums  hence. " 

In  America  the  irritation  caused  by  Wesley's  expression  of 
his  opinions  during  the  Revolution  had  passed  away  before  he 


3i8 


John  Wesley  the  Methodist. 


died.  Bishop  Asbury  in  his  Journal  (April  29,  1791)  refers  to 
the  death  "of  that  dear  man  of  God,"  and  gives  what  Dr. 
Buckley  well  calls  "probably  the  best  estimate  of  his  character 


3B 


The  Wesleyan  Centenary  Statue,  City  Road,  London. 
Unveiled  March  2,  1891. 


and  career,"  It  is  well  worth  quoting  here  as  we  conclude  our 
plain  account  of  his  life:  "When  we  consider  his  plain  and 
nervous  writings,  his  uncommon  talent  for  sermonizing  and 


The  True  John  Wesley. 


319 


journalizing;  that  he  had  such  a  steady  flow  of  animal  spirits; 
so  much  of  the  spirit  of  government  in  him ;  his  knowledge  as 
an  observer;  his  attainments  as  a  scholar;  his  experience  as 
a  Christian;  I  conclude  his  equal  is  not  to  be  found  among  all 
the  sons  he  hath  brought  up,  nor  his  superior  among  all  the 
sons  of  Adam  he  may  have  left  behind." 


Seal  of  John  'Wesley. 


The  EnDo 


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